Hydrogen

Overview

Hydrogen can be produced as a gas and used for a variety of everyday tasks and industrial uses, such as:

• heating and cooking (as a replacement for natural gas).
• transportation (replacing petrol and diesel).
• industry (as an alternative chemical feedstock for industries such as aluminium, cement and green steel).
• energy storage (e.g. by converting intermittent renewable energy into hydrogen).

The key benefit of using hydrogen is that it is a clean fuel, emitting only water vapour and heat when combusted. Replacing current fossil fuel use with hydrogen could substantially reduce CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere.

With large potential for renewable energy, non-renewable energy commodity resources, and geological CO₂ storage, Australia is well placed to become a major producer of hydrogen for domestic use and as an export industry.

Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy sets a vision for developing Australia’s hydrogen industry. Current hydrogen industry development is monitored in the annual State of Hydrogen report (2021, 2022), which also tracks progress towards long term targets. An initial assessment of hydrogen infrastructure requirements through to 2050 is covered under the National Hydrogen Infrastructure Assessment.

Keywords

Hydrogen; national hydrogen strategy; hydrogen storage; salt caverns; geological storage; carbon capture, utilisation and storage; CCS; CCUS; coal; oil; gas; renewables; solar; wind; EFTF; HEFT; AusH2.