H2U and Vopak Collaborate on Green Hydrogen and Ammonia Export Project in Gladstone

Australia: Vopak Terminals Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of tank storage company Royal Vopak, and The Hydrogen Utility (H2U), an Australian developer of green Hydrogen infrastructure, have begun working together on the H2-Hub project, a multi-billion-dollar renewable energy complex that would produce green Hydrogen and green Ammonia and be built in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia.

The companies will specifically work with current partners to advance the project's development, concentrating primarily on the export terminal of H2-Hub Gladstone.

With 3 GW of planned electrolyser capacity and approximately 1.7 million tons of anticipated annual output of green Ammonia, H2-Hub Gladstone is reportedly the largest green Hydrogen and green Ammonia development in Queensland and one of the most technologically advanced export projects worldwide.

Recently, H2U announced strategic partnerships and green Ammonia offtake with companies in the domestic and international markets, including commercial explosives supplier Orica Australia, industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Japan, and Korea East-West Power (Korea EWP), a fully owned subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

The Queensland Coordinator-General under the State Development and Public Works Organization Act 1971 proclaimed H2-Hub Gladstone a Coordinated Project in April 2022, and on February 3, 2023, the final Terms of Reference for an Environmental Impact Statement were issued.

Glenn Butcher, a minister in the Queensland government and a member of parliament for Gladstone, spoke about the new partnership and said that initiatives and alliances like it are helping Queensland become a leader in clean energy. He continued, saying: This facility is exactly in line with the Palaszczuk Government's vision for a clean, green future, with the bonus of hundreds of good, local jobs.

Vopak Terminals Australia's Managing Director, Paul Kanters, stated: This relationship fits well within Vopak's strategy ambition to speed toward new energies. By creating infrastructure solutions for new essential products, with a focus on zero- and low-Carbon Hydrogen, Ammonia, CO₂, long-duration energy storage, and sustainable feedstocks, eager to contribute to the creation of a sustainable future.

According to H2U's founder and CEO Attilio Pigneri, Vopak's expertise and presence in "the main industrial and port clusters globally, and within the Asia-Pacific region, puts H2-Hub Gladstone in a special position to support offtakers in the rapidly expanding market for green Ammonia exports, including in the power generation and shipping sectors.

Pigneri added that H2U and the project partners may now collaborate with Vopak and take advantage of their special knowledge and experience to advance front-end engineering operations for the H2-Hub Gladstone export terminal to assist current and potential green Ammonia offtake partners.

It should be noted that Gladstone, Queensland, is one of seven clean Hydrogen centers designated by Australia's National Hydrogen Strategy.

In May of this year, Keppel Corporation, based in Singapore, partnered with technology provider Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of an industrial-scale green Ammonia production facility in Australia. Additionally, Keppel Corporation joined the Central Queensland Hydrogen (CQ-H2) project consortium.