Osaka Gas, based in Japan, has entered into an agreement with Aqua Aerem, a technology provider, to develop the 10 GW Desert Bloom Hydrogen project in Northern Australia, which will cost $10.75 billion. The green hydrogen project is being promoted by Aqua Aerem.
Osaka Gas’ participation in the $10.75 billion scheme will assist the project’s overall development, which will include construction of plant, engineering and technical support, negotiations with equipment manufacturers, and finding customers for the hydrogen production. The first stage of the Desert Bloom project will cost $743 million and produce 1,000 kg of green hydrogen per day. This will eventually be increased to 410,000 tonnes of annual production for both domestic and export consumption.
The main concept of Desert Bloom is that it does not require direct connection to a water source. The system is made up of a series of modular 2 MW hydrogen production units that can capture and split water from the atmosphere to make green hydrogen. This means that even in arid areas, green hydrogen generating units can be erected. As per the company’s statement, this lowers the capital and operating expenses of green hydrogen production significantly.
REGlobal’s Views: The usage of large volumes of clean water is a major concern in green hydrogen production especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Thus, there is a huge scope for technologies that can produce hydrogen without using the scant water reserves in these regions.
