Sunshine Hydro plans world’s first super-hybrid green hydrogen project in Queensland

Sunshine Hydro and Energy Estate have proposed the construction of the “world’s first,” super-hybrid green hydrogen project in Central Queensland, valued at $5.5 billion with massive wind and pumped hydro facilities. The unit also underlines its plans for hydrogen technologies. The project is expected to feature 1.8GW of new wind generation and 600MW of pumped hydro, inducing 18 hours of storage capacity.

The energy production list would consist of 300MW of hydrogen electrolysers, 50MW of liquefaction and a 50MW hydrogen fuel cell with an ability to produce 65 tonnes of green hydrogen per day. Some of their end-users would include hydrogen transportation industries and common metal smelting units.

Especially in Queensland, Australia the introduction of this plant would ultimately mean an uninterrupted power supply to essential aluminium smelters and alumina refineries which the nation is full of.

Adjoined, these technologies can serve any regular firm with 220 MW of power, day and night with an excess power generation being provided to the grid. The power supplied would be very essential for running the hydrogen technologies incorporated in the project tender.

This gigantic project would be erected within the boundaries of the Central Queensland Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), situated in Gladstone, Bundaberg. It is estimated that the plant would start generating clean energy and green hydrogen by 2028 if the course of action remains the same.

This plant is being promoted as one of the three potential super-hybrid projects that the makers claim can generate at least 660MW of green energy for a firm which is more than half of the recent current output by the coal-fed power station at Gladstone. 

The ‘close loop’ hydro technology and the energy management system offered by Sunshine Hydro might come in good use for the enterprise.

The introduction of this green hydrogen option for metal industries might cut their coal consumption. This would pave the way for lesser greenhouse gas emissions and balance the amount of residue created by any metal industry. Smelters utilize a huge amount of energy to keep producing the desired amount of raw material. If there is any stagnancy in power supply, it might destroy the complete value chain of the industry.

This entire process would act as an accessory in Energy Estate’s humungous multi-gigawatt plans for wind energy in the central Queensland region.

Simon Currie, a director of Sunshine Hydro and co-founder of Energy Estate, narrated: “Our goal at Energy Estate is to build upon the [Central Queensland (CQ)] region’s natural advantages so it continues to be Australia’s energy capital for generations to come. Superhybrids in the CQ region will enhance energy security and water security. Sunshine Hydro is leveraging software conceived and built here in Queensland to create new industries and support existing industrial users such as the aluminium smelter and alumina refineries.”

Though a very lucrative idea, the project would still need a final investment decision (FID) scheduled to be made in 2025, only after which the construction will begin. The commissioning would be negated by 2028. The concept is still in its early stage of development, much like any other project of this magnitude.

“Our unique green hydropower system will provide highly reliable renewable energy to power the equivalent of 600,000 homes to ‘keep the lights on’ while generating 500 new jobs in the green economy. We will apply our innovative closed-loop hydropower model, which selects of a clever mix of energy inputs, outputs, and storage, which we call a super-hybrid, to generate reliable green power and green hydrogen,” exclaimed Michael Myer, Sunshine Hydro’s Chairman.