Hydrogen Park South Australia (HyP SA) Community Project
Winner: Community, Energy sector
Australian Gas Networks (AGN) delivers gas as part of Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to over 470,000 homes and businesses in
South Australia and over 2 million Australian homes and businesses.
An Australian first, Hydrogen Park South Australia (HyP SA) supplied over 700 homes up to 5% renewable hydrogen blend into existing AGN natural gas networks.
In August 2022, HyP SA commenced transporting 100% renewable hydrogen to Whyalla via a BOC tube and trailer, used in producing high-purity argon for the Whyalla steelworks and local industry.
The program established a new standard for community engagement, reached tens-of-thousands of South Australians, and garnered overwhelming positive customer response.
With plans to expand HyP SA’s supply and pave the way for future decarbonisation, AGIC wants to supply a renewable gas blend of at least 10% by
2030.
Previous awards
- 2022 Hydrogen Project of the Year, MENA Future of Hydrogen Awards
- 2020 Energy and Mining Innovation & Collaboration (commendation), South Australian Premier’s Awards
- 2020 Australian Engineering Excellence Award, Engineers Australia
- 2020 Environment Award, Australian Pipelines and Gas Association
- 2020 Business and Industry Award, SA Climate Leaders Award
Q&A with Australian Gas Networks
HyP SA is a $14.5 m project that was supported by $4.9 million from the South Australian Government. Hydrogen Park South Australia was Australia’s first and largest renewable hydrogen facility.
Commencing production in May 2021, HyP SA has safely and reliably delivered a 5% renewable gas blend to more than 700 of our customers in Mitchell Park.
We were pleased to announce in June this year that we are expanding our network of blended gas to over 3,000 new connections in Mitchell Park, Clovelly Park and parts of Marion. This expansion is due to be completed in early 2023.
In another Australian-first, AGN has partnered with BOC to transport renewable hydrogen by tube trailer to industrial customers.
Commencing in August 2022, the partnership eliminates the need for local industry to source hydrogen from interstate, saving 117,000 km of driving and 122,000 kg of related carbon emissions annually.
HyP SA’s delivery is a key first step to demonstrating existing gas infrastructure can be used to safely and reliably supply renewable gas to customers in support of our climate targets, whist retaining its reliability and energy security benefits.
HyP SA established a new standard for stakeholder and community engagement by co-designing an approach with the community that reached tens-of-thousands of South Australians and attracted thousands of local and international guests.
We decided to nominate for the Community Engagement Award as we are enormously proud of the approach we took to ensure high levels of transparency and collaboration with stakeholders and communities before, during and after construction.
This is evident in the feedback in the longitudinal research of the community undertaken between October 2020 and June 2022:
- Awareness has more than doubled over the first year of operations from 24% to 55%
- Appeal has remained strong with 95% of respondents saying the project is appealing
- Experience has been positive with 94% saying safe delivery of gas to the home has remained, and 6% have indicated they feel it is safer than natural gas
South Australia is leading the world in the shift to renewables and, on average, powered nearly 70% of renewable electricity last finance year. More than two thirds of the state’s power came from renewable energy created through wind (45.2%) and solar (23.1%).
We need this strong supply of renewable electricity to support a thriving renewable hydrogen sector.
AGN is excited to be part of the renewable energy mix. In its first year, HyP SA has safely and reliably harnessed South Australia’s abundant renewable electricity to produce over 8 tonnes of renewable gas and has delivering enough renewable energy into the networks to cook 56,451 pots of pasta or heat 9,032 hot showers.
We are proud to be leading the way to achieving our goal of a renewable gas future.
There is quite a bit of work to do to establish a renewable gas industry. Gas is very important to our customers and as of 2021 comprises of around 30% of energy used by Australians.
Our target is to set at least 10% renewable gas in our gas supply system by 2030.
Our aim is to fully decarbonise our distribution networks by 2040 as a stretch target and by no later than 2050. This is consistent with state and federal government objectives around Australia.
The domestic market is available today and should be accessed to decarbonise gas supply, including by large industry, build hydrogen scale and capability and provide a more efficient energy system.
HyP SA is just the start of our low-carbon gas journey; we have many other projects in various development phases.
- Hydrogen Park Gladstone: This project will be another Australian first, by delivering 10% of renewable gas to an entire network comprising of around 700 home and businesses.
- Hydrogen Park Murray Valley will be co-located with a waste water treatment plant and offer a 10% renewable gas blend to more than 40,000 home and businesses located in Wodonga and Albury.
- Hydrogen Park Wagga Wagga is a 10 MW facility supplying 10% renewable gas to over 23,000 home and businesses while also supplying 100% renewable hydrogen to industry and power generation.
The Premier’s Awards are highly regarded in the industry, and it would be an honour to be acknowledged for the work AGIG is doing to decarbonise the network and pave the way to establishing Australia’s hydrogen industry ambitions.
Being recognised by industry peers is important for the business and the staff who passionately work to develop and deliver these projects.
We are very proud to have hosted the Australia’s first renewable hydrogen conference at Adelaide oval in 2018.
Initially it was expected to be a small conference, however the response was fantastic and was a very well attended conference. This demonstrated the early and strong interest int eh emerging hydrogen industry.
As a business we pride ourselves on our values and our vision of:
- Delivering for customers
- Being a good employer
- Being sustainably cost efficient
These three objectives are essential to ensuring the delivery of our renewable gas projects.
Hydrogen is central to the vision. Renewable gas ensures we deliver to our customers today and in the future, while ensuring employment for employees.
HyP SA has been a significant milestone in demonstrating that we can safely and reliably deliver renewable blended gas to our customers.
It’s a very exciting time to be living and working is South Australia.
The SA Government has always been a leader in the renewable energy industry, you just need to look at the early adoption of the renewable energy target which has led us to where we are today - world-leading in the shift to renewable energy.
We are thrilled with the government's Hydrogen Job’s Plan which will see the construction of a world-leading hydrogen power station, electrolyser and storage facility within the Whyalla City Council.
It is a very exciting time to be in the energy industry. This is an industry that has been static for a very long period and is now evolving at a rapid rate.
My advice to anyone entering the industry is that they need to be agile and able to adapt to change.
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