(London/Perth) – Oil giant BP plc is acquiring a stake in one of the world's largest green hydrogen production projects. The British company will take over a 40,5 percent share in the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) in the Pilbara region on the Indian Ocean in Western Australia. The company will also assume operational management of the project from July 1, 2022.
Center for renewable energy and green hydrogen
When fully developed, AREH could produce 1,6 million tonnes of green hydrogen or nine million tonnes of green ammonia annually for the Australian domestic market and export to large international customers. It would be one of the largest green hydrogen projects in the world. Previous communications mentioned electrolyzers with an output of 14 gigawatts, which also use desalinated seawater.
The infrastructure includes not only production facilities and pipelines, but also an offshore export platform. The consortium wants to install photovoltaic and onshore wind farms with a capacity of 6.500 gigawatts (GW) on the 26 square kilometer site. This corresponds to an electricity generation potential of over 90 terawatt hours per year - around a third of all electricity generated in Australia in 2021.
However, the income from the new power plants not only serves to produce hydrogen, but also to supply the local market. Pilbara is an energy-intensive mining region with significant carbon emissions. At full capacity, AREH is expected to help save approximately 17 million tons of carbon annually.
Changeable history
The project, on which a number of companies have been working since 2014, has already had a checkered history. In October 2020, the central government in Canberra, under then Prime Minister Scott Morrison, granted the Asian Renewable Energy Hub the status of a major project , which significantly accelerated the approval processes.
However, in June 2021, the Environment Minister of the same government, Sussan Ley, refused to approve the project. A plan submitted to the ministry had "unacceptable environmental impacts," she stated. The plans contradicted the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC).
This assessment not only led to disagreements with industry and national associations, but also to disagreements with the government of Western Australia. The companies then announced a revision of the plans.
In October 2021, the government allocated 150 million Australian dollars (93 million euros) to the " Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs " program for the establishment of hydrogen hubs at seven locations across the country, bringing the total funding for this program to 464 million dollars (287 million euros). Morrison did not specify last year which projects would be supported with these funds, but Pilbara was explicitly mentioned.
The consortium
In addition to BP, the members of the AREH consortium also include the green hydrogen producer Intercontinental Energy (26,4 percent), the renewable energy developer CWP Global (17,8 percent) and the Green Investment Group (15,3 percent). from the Australian financial services provider and investor Macquarie.
In an earlier statement, the Aborigines who traditionally own Nyangumarta County, as well as the wind turbine manufacturer Vestas and the Energy Change Institute of the Australian National University (ANU) were also named as those involved in the plans.
Ammonia sales are scheduled to start in 2027
“AREH will be one of the largest hubs for renewable energy and green hydrogen in the 
“We can be a world leader and can make a significant contribution to the energy transition in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region,” said Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, Executive Vice President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy at BP. She is also convinced that AREH will also help countries such as South Korea and Japan decarbonize.
The initiators want to build the projects in several sections. The investment costs for renewable energy power plants with an initial output of 15 gigawatts were put at 36 billion Australian dollars (24 billion euros) in previous reports. There was talk of $50 billion for the final expansion. According to media reports, the consortium wants to deliver green ammonia from 2027.
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AREH location on the Indian Ocean in Western Australia. © BP plc
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Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, Executive Vice President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy at BP © BP plc
