(Grundagai / Australia) – The Greek metallurgy conglomerate Mytilineos SA is investing in the “Rosedale Green Hydrogen” project of the Australian project developer Clara Energy. According to the information, Mytilineos Energy & Metals acquired a 15 percent stake.
The Rosedale plan calls for the development of a solar farm with an installed capacity of 800 megawatts. The proceeds will be used exclusively to operate a 560 megawatt hydrogen production plant. The location is near Gundagai, roughly in the middle of the 900 kilometer long Hume Highway, which connects Sydney and Melbourne. Hydrogen filling stations on the Hume Highway, one of the busiest overland roads on the continent, will one day supply around 800 heavy-duty long-distance trucks. In the first construction phase, solar power will be produced in a 250 megawatt photovoltaic system, enough to supply 200 trucks with hydrogen.
Hydrogen has an advantage over diesel
Companies see the advantages of hydrogen in the short refueling times compared to gasoline or diesel, as longer distances can be covered with a single tank filling. At the same time, it is safer than conventional fuels because it is 14 times lighter than air; In the event of a local leak in the tank, a narrow, vertical flame is created that does not generate a high temperature and does not spread.
In the energy business area, Mytilineos has a renewable energy power plant with an installed capacity of 2,3 gigawatts. The photovoltaic project pipeline is 1,5 gigawatts, of which around ten percent are under construction. The entire project pipeline in the energy segment is eleven gigawatts, of which 9,1 gigawatts are renewable energies, according to a company presentation (April 2023).
Mytilineos always strives to offer its customers pioneering solutions, says Yiannis Kalafatas, Chief Executive Director of the company's energy division. “We are now offering green hydrogen services for large-scale systems along highways so that decarbonization in international transport can take place smoothly.”
Two business areas from January 2023
At the end of 2022, Mytilineos announced a restructuring of the company with effect from January 1, 2023. Accordingly, there are now two business areas. The “Energy” segment primarily includes electricity generation using photovoltaics, wind and natural gas, as well as marketing, and now also hydrogen. The focus in the traditional “metallurgy” segment is the extraction of bauxite, the production of aluminum along with further processing and recycling.
Group sales in the first quarter were 1,3 billion euros (Q1 2022: 1,04 billion euros), profit was around 143 million euros (Q1 2022: 63 million euros). Annual sales for 2022 were 6,3 billion euros (2021: 6,9 billion euros).
Photos
The metallurgical group Mytilineos is starting to produce clean hydrogen in Australia. © Mytilineos
