Oil major bp said it plans to help develop what it calls "one of the world's largest" green hydrogen hubs to based in Australia.
The company acquired a 40.5% equity stake in the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH). In addition to the ownership share, bp said it plans to operate the green hydrogen hub.
Based in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the hub would supply renewable power to local customers and also produce green hydrogen and green ammonia for the domestic Australian market and for export to major international users.
AREH has plans to develop onshore wind and solar power generation in multiple phases to a total generating capacity of up to 26 GW. The project is situated on a 6,500-square-kilometer site.
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At full capacity, AREH is expected to be capable of producing around 1.6 million tons of green hydrogen or 9 million tons of green ammonia, per year.
bp sees Australia as a potential "powerhouse in the global energy transition," according to Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, bp’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy.
First proposed in 2014, the AREH project has been developed to date by partners that currently comprise InterContinental Energy, CWP Global and Macquarie Capital, and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group.
