<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/renewable-hydrogen-superpower-or-green-mask-for-fossil-super-villains/>
"My children are aged three and four. They love anything with super powers –
Spiderman, vampires, Paw Patrol, everything.
As a parent, I’m always careful to remind them that super powers are fun for
pretending, but they are not real.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to teach this to kids when federal government
ministers say things like “green hydrogen is at the heart of our vision for
Australia as a…renewable energy superpower.”
SOCK! POW! KAZAAM!
As much as kids and ministers might like to play green hydrogen superpowers
they should not be used when crossing the road or formulating tax and energy
policy.
Which brings us to the federal government’s Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive,
which was open for consultation until last Friday.
This program will see the Government subsidise eligible hydrogen production by
$2 per kilogram. Budget documents (p68) give an estimated cost of “$6.7 billion
over ten years from 2024–25 (and an average of $1.1 billion per year from
2034–35 to 2040–41).”
Dividing these annual costs by the $2/kg subsidy gives an estimate of the
quantity of green hydrogen that the federal government thinks will be produced.
On average, the government is budgeting for 335,000 tonnes per year to 2033-34,
and then a slight increase to 550,000 tonnes per year.
The problem is that Australia currently uses 500,000 tonnes of hydrogen each
year for industrial processes, mainly for making mining explosives and
fertilisers – uses that are unlikely to decline.
Green hydrogen should go first to decarbonising these existing uses, given that
they have the demand, equipment and experience to use it. Everyone says this is
what’s going to happen, from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial
Analysis to the Minerals Council of Australia.
So if Australia produces and uses 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen each year,
it doesn’t take a super-genius to work out that there isn’t much left over.
There is no hydrogen to export to Japan. There is none for a boom in green
metals, or vast hydrogen bus fleets, or anything else."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
