Tasmania’s conservative government is embracing green hydrogen as it positions itself as a ‘renewables powerhouse’
This week a Liberal government set an ambitious 200% renewable energy target for 2040, a goal that foresees the creation of an extensive clean export industry.
It vowed support to kickstart production of “green” hydrogen – a potentially revolutionary fuel touted as a zero emissions fossil fuel replacement – with a plant promised for local use no later than 2024, and an export industry by 2030. And it said it would install fast-charging equipment for electric vehicles at 12 sites this year.
The government also announced a review of what would need to be done to reach net zero emissions before 2050.
The Liberal administration in question was not the Morrison government in Canberra, where the climate policy debate remains focused on the cost of acting above all else, but the Tasmanian state government in Hobart.
Peter Gutwein, a long-time treasurer who became Tasmanian premier in January after the surprise resignation of Will Hodgman, used his first “state of the state” address to set out what, by national standards, were a striking series of commitments that could put the state at the forefront of the shift to an emissions-free world.
Gutwein, who has retained responsibility for treasury and also taken on the climate change portfolio, said it was time for the state to “showcase our innovation to the world and stake our claim as a renewables powerhouse”.It vowed support to kickstart production of “green” hydrogen – a potentially revolutionary fuel touted as a zero emissions fossil fuel replacement – with a plant promised for local use no later than 2024, and an export industry by 2030. And it said it would install fast-charging equipment for electric vehicles at 12 sites this year.
The government also announced a review of what would need to be done to reach net zero emissions before 2050.
The Liberal administration in question was not the Morrison government in Canberra, where the climate policy debate remains focused on the cost of acting above all else, but the Tasmanian state government in Hobart.
Peter Gutwein, a long-time treasurer who became Tasmanian premier in January after the surprise resignation of Will Hodgman, used his first “state of the state” address to set out what, by national standards, were a striking series of commitments that could put the state at the forefront of the shift to an emissions-free world.
“Tasmania has the opportunity to ensure that the most compelling 21st century competitive advantage that industry and consumers want – renewable energy – underpins our economy,” he said.
Tasmania starts well ahead of other Australian states in the shift to low emissions. It mostly runs on clean hydro power and has already reached 100% renewable energy generation in some years. But analysts said, if delivered, the shift in Tasmania could provide an example for others to follow.
Anna Skarbek, chief executive of research organisation ClimateWorks, said the new Tasmanian commitments were consistent with what other countries and jurisdictions that ran on hydro were doing. They are also in line with what analysts have found: that Australia had great potential to be a clean energy industrial hub.
“It is a good example of a government looking at opportunities for future clean energy markets,” Skarbek said. “What we’ve found is, when the intent is signalled, international technology providers are looking for opportunities to invest in other jurisdictions.”
The most fleshed-out element of the Tasmanian commitment is a promise to offer $50m in funding, concessional loans, subsidised power and tax breaks for green hydrogen development over the next decade. Making hydrogen is an electricity-hungry process that involves using an electrolyser to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
With a report for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency having estimated an Australian industry could be worth up to $10bn a year by 2040, Gutwein said hydrogen was “one of the most extraordinary sunrise opportunities Tasmania could ever step into”.
He said the state had already received interest from companies in Japan, Korea and Singapore, and cited forecasts hydrogen produced with clean power would have about a 15% price advantage over fossil fuel-derived hydrogen. “We know that with our renewable energy that we can generate green hydrogen cheaper than what they will be able to on the mainland,” he said.
The other elements Gutwein announced remain little more than dot points. He has promised a renewable energy action plan in April, and a plan in the state budget for the government to have more electric cars in its fleet.
Locally, the commitments received a largely, but not universally, positive response. Politically, Tasmanian Labor said they were welcome but long overdue; the Greens said they were welcome but nothing like enough to take the climate emergency seriously, and said they would introduce a bill that would go further.
Outside parliament, the Wilderness Society described the new pledges as refreshing, while the Australia Institute, a progressive thinktank, said the green hydrogen vision was a “forward thinking plan for the state”.
“It’s great to see the Tasmanian government backing our renewable energy sector by investing in this emerging industry,” said Leanne Minshull, the Australia Institute’s Tasmanian director.
But both organisations had caveats. Minshull said the massive clean energy expansion should be used to drive Tasmania to zero emissions, including by moving the state’s vehicles and farms to running on electricity and attracting further clean industries to the state, before more was exported to the mainland via new undersea cables, including the proposed Marinus Link with Victoria.
Tom Allen, from the Wilderness Society, said the state’s first step in cutting emissions should be to end native forest logging. He said the government still intended to log 226 forest reserves that contained more than 10m tonnes of carbon.
“If this logging happens it would obliterate all the environmental policies he announced this week,” he said. “The quickest, easiest, lowest-cost way to boost Tasmania’s carbon stocks, protect wildlife and provide new, badly needed nature recreation spaces is to permanently protect these outstanding reserves.”
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