L to R – Chris Shaw Deputy Director-General – Hydrogen, Department of Energy and Public Works, Paul Martyn Director General, Department of Energy and Public Works, Mr Junjie Gomakubo Consul-General of Japan pictured with representatives from IHI Corporation, CS Energy, Energy Estate and Idemitsu.

Leading Japanese company, IHI Corporation, through its subsidiary, IHI Engineering Australia Pty Ltd, will join the consortium of Australian and global energy players developing the integrated renewable energy, green hydrogen and ammonia production and export facility in North Queensland, known as “HyNQ – North Queensland Clean Energy Project”.

The existing consortium is comprised of Idemitsu Australia, a subsidiary of global energy supplier Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd, Queensland Government owned energy company CS Energy and local developer and accelerator, Energy Estate.

Vincent Dwyer, co-founder of Energy Estate, stated “Over recent months our consortium has accelerated the development of the HyNQ project and completed a comprehensive pre-FEED study. IHI Corporation is recognised as a global leader and has already demonstrated its commitment to supporting the development of the green hydrogen industry in Australia. We are delighted that IHI is joining CS Energy, Idemitsu and our team at Energy Estate and together we can create a world class green export hub at Abbot Point.”

Kensuke Yamamoto, Associated Director of IHI Corporation said, “IHI Corporation is a global technology leader in the use of green ammonia to decarbonise industry – in Japan and other markets around the world. We see HyNQ as an opportunity to secure long term supplies of green ammonia for the Japanese market and build upon the foundations of the strong and enduring partnership between Queensland and Japan.”

HyNQ is located at Abbot Point, North Queensland, tapping into the workforce and supply chain in the Townsville and Greater Whitsunday regions. The project incorporates behind-the-meter wind and solar generation with over 1GW of electrolyser capacity. Green hydrogen will be used to produce green ammonia, primarily for export markets, and liquid hydrogen for domestic customers in North Queensland.

The Queensland Government is actively supporting the accelerated development of Abbot Point as a green export hub by investing $8.5 million in the Abbot Point Activation Initiative under the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan hydrogen hubs program. This investment will advance the master planning, development and infrastructure arrangements that are needed for Abbot Point to become a hydrogen export super hub including planning for the water and power supplies
needed to produce hydrogen at scale in North Queensland.

The HyNQ consortium is committed to the development of common user infrastructure at Abbot Point and ensuring that large scale exports of green ammonia and decarbonisation of domestic industry plays a key role in unlocking the world class renewable energy and critical mineral opportunities in North Queensland.

HyNQ has completed pre-FEED activities on schedule during Q3 2023 and the current project timetable envisages proceeding to the FEED stage of development in Q1 24 with a final investment decision in 2025.