A Japanese-Australian joint venture has announced that it has entered the commercial demonstration phase of producing hydrogen from brown coal, with a staggering commitment of JPY220bn (USD1.62bn) in funding from the Japanese government, as reported by Reuters on March 7. This Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project, led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), is a coal-to-hydrogen initiative valued at JPY500m (USD336.40m), which is supported by both Japan and Australia as a way to shift towards cleaner energy and reduce carbon emissions. This announcement comes as part of Japan’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2050 and accelerate its efforts to decarbonize Asia’s economies and combat climate change. To advance this initiative, Japanese companies, including KHI and Iwatani Corp , have agreed to jointly create Japan’s first hydrogen supply chain between Australia’s Victoria state and Kawasaki, an industrialized city near Tokyo, to transition towards cleaner energy sources.

Under the HESC project, J-Power and Sumitomo Corp will produce hydrogen through coal gasification using carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Gippsland, Victoria, while KHI and Iwatani will oversee the liquefaction, loading, transportation, and unloading of hydrogen to Japan. Initially, J-Power and Sumitomo plan to produce between 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes per annum of gaseous clean hydrogen, with a future potential production of 225,000 tonnes per annum. The Japanese government’s Green Innovation Fund will provide the JPY220bn (USD1.62bn) funding for this project. Pending commercial agreements and obtaining the required environmental permits and approvals, they aim to begin production in the late 2020s.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/japanese-govt-awards-162-bln-japan-australia-hydrogen-energy-supply-jv-2023-03-07/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/davos23-japan-accelerate-efforts-carbon-neutral-society/