Stanwell has discontinued its involvement in the Central Queensland H₂ Project (CQ-H2) project and other H₂ development activities.

The CQ-H2 project has been a valuable international collaboration that has provided important technical and commercial knowledge to support the future large-scale commercialization of renewable H₂.

In May 2020, Stanwell and Iwatani Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding to undertake a concept study into a large-scale liquefied renewable H₂ supply chain between Central Queensland and Japan. The study found that Central Queensland is a globally competitive location for renewable H₂ production.

In November 2020, a partnership between Stanwell and Iwatani Corporation to progress planning on a new H₂ export focused facility in Gladstone was announced.

In June 2021, it was announced that Stanwell had signed an Option Agreement with Economic Development Queensland to secure a 236-hectare site at Aldoga, west of Gladstone for its proposed H₂ production facility.

In September 2021, key project announcements included:

• ARENA announced up to AUD$2.17 million in funding to Stanwell to complete a feasibility study (at a cost of over AUD$10 million) to investigate the technical and commercial viability of a proposed green H₂ export project to be located at Gladstone, Queensland. Additional funding support for the feasibility study was also provided through the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
• Stanwell and Iwatani formed a broader consortium to commence a detailed feasibility study into the proposed project (with consortium membership evolving as the project entered the FEED study stage).

The feasibility study investigated the complete H₂ supply chain, including electrolysis, storage, handling, liquefaction, transportation, and shipping and was designed with the requirements of an investment decision to move to the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage.

The feasibility study was completed in June 2022, with bridging activities progressed ahead of FEED studies. The project Feasibility Study was publicly released in December 2022 and offers further details on the technical, commercial and strategic aspects of the development as envisaged at the time of completion of the feasibility study.

In addition to the feasibility study, Stanwell also undertook studies into local workforce and manufacturing development. Work on these programs will continue throughout the bridging and FEED stages of the project.

Following a period of bridging activities, the FEED study stage began in May 2023. In the same month, ARENA announced that it had conditionally approved AUD$20 million in funding to Stanwell to support FEED studies for a large-scale renewable H2 project in Gladstone. In June 2022, as part of the State 2022-23 budget, it was announced that AUD$15 million from the Queensland Renewable Energy and H₂ Jobs Fund is to be allocated to progress the Central Queensland H₂ Project, particularly the planned FEED study.

At the time of commencement of the FEED study stage, the project plans involve a phased development with a commercial operations date of renewable H₂ targeted for 2029 (initial production targeted at around 200 tpd of H₂, installed electrolyzer capacity at around 720 MW) ramping up in 200 tpd increments as additional offtakes are secured, with full scale production capacity targeted at around 800 tpd by the early 2030s (rated electrolyzer capacity at around 2 gigawatts [GW], and which would require at least 7 GW of associated renewable solar/wind power generation capacity).

Amongst other things, the FEED study stage will examine the development of a H₂ liquefaction facility at the Port of Gladstone that would produce 400 tpd of liquefied H₂ for export by the early 2030s.

Up to AUD$69.2 million in funding has been awarded to Stanwell to support the development of a Central Queensland H₂ Hub (through the Australian Government’s Regional H₂ Hubs Program – Hub Implementation funding stream). The Central Queensland H₂ Hub will bring together local, national and international companies and organizations to drive the development of the H₂ industry in the region. Stanwell, as lead applicant, will work together with the other Central Queensland H₂ Hub participants to develop an implementation plan for the proposed concept. See media statement.

In May 2023, Keppel Limited, in announcing it had joined the Central Queensland H₂ Project, also announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Incitec Pivot Ltd. to further the development of a renewables-based ammonia production facility in Queensland, leveraging the accessibility to H₂ supply from the Central Queensland H₂ Project. Produced ammonia would support the decarbonization of Incitec Pivot’s domestic manufacturing assets and also exported to Singapore to meet Keppel’s zero or low-emissions power generation needs, with excess production marketed in Asia.

In September 2023, Worley announced that it had been awarded the front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for the Central Queensland H₂ (CQ-H2) Project.

In October 2023, Stanwell announced that it had signed a 15-year, 380-MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with ACCIONA Energía to purchase 100% of the output from its planned Aldoga Solar Farm, 20 kilometers north-west of Gladstone. In April 2024, the Queensland Government announced that construction was underway on the Aldoga Solar Farm (on the Central Queensland coast) which would produce electricity to power the proposed Central Queensland H₂ Project. The Aldoga Solar Farm will be located adjacent to the proposed H₂ production facility site for the CQ-H2 Project.

In May 2024, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners announced that it had commenced the development phase on the proposed Green Iron Project in Gladstone, including potential conversion of magnetite ore (from the Eulogie resource around 70 kilometers west of Gladstone) to green iron using H₂ produced by the Central Queensland H₂ Project.

In September 2024, Australian chemicals manufacturer Incitec Pivot Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the intent to join the CQ-H2 consortium in support of renewable ammonia development.

Source: https://research.csiro.au/hyresource/central-queensland-H2-project/