How the planned ‘hydrogen hub’ near Whyalla could help
Australia’s gas crisis
Soaring power and gas prices have put the national spotlight on energy but, even before the current crisis, big business and governments had begun turning their attention to hydrogen as one of the answers to meet the demand for clean and reliable energy.
Key points:
- The SA government has committed $593 million over four years to creating a hydrogen facility in Whyalla
- The facility will allow the state to produce and store hydrogen energy
- Experts say hydrogen could form an important part of Australia’s energy mix and help reduce our reliance on gas
Clean energy experts say a hydrogen project near Whyalla on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula could help to provide answers to how the process of making and storing hydrogen energy can best be done.
Program director for energy and climate change at the Grattan Institute, Tony Wood, said one of the main benefits of the project would be to really test the technology.
“No one’s really doing this yet anywhere around the world,” he said.
So how will it work? And how could it be used to help our energy hungry world? Let’s take a look.
How do you get hydrogen?
Basically, you get hydrogen by separating the hydrogen from the oxygen in water (H2O).
This is done through a process called electrolysis, which sends an electric current to the water and causes the chemical reaction.