Oil and gas firm bp is buying a 40.5% equity stake in the Asian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
It will operate the Hub, which is located on a 6,500 square kilometer site, with access to an abundant supply of solar and wind resources with a consistent output to power green hydrogen or ammonia production.
AREH will develop onshore wind and solar power generation in phases to achieve a total generating capacity of up to 26 GW. This is equivalent to an estimated 90 terawatt hours per year, which will cover about one-third of all electricity generated in the country in 2020.
At full capacity AREH will be able to produce 1.6 million tons of green hydrogen or 9 million tons of green ammonia, per annum and abate approximately 17 million tons of carbon in the domestic and carbon markets each year. This means about 0.5 gigatons (Gt) of carbon savings over the project lifetime.
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, bp’s Executive Vice President of gas and low carbon energy, said, “AREH is set to be one of the largest renewable and green hydrogen energy hubs in the world and can make a significant contribution to Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region’s energy transition. It truly reflects what integrated energy is – combining solar and onshore wind power with hydrogen production and using it to help transform sectors and regions"
"We believe AREH can be a cornerstone project for us in helping our local and global customers and partners in meeting their net zero and energy commitments. It will also serve as a long-term clean energy security contributor in Asia Pacific, helping countries such as South Korea and Japan to decarbonize."
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Once the project is complete, it is expected that AREH could provide significant net renewable generating capacity for bp, too.
After bp acquires the 40.5% stake in the project and assumes operatorship from 1 July, the other partner shareholders of AREH will continue to hold a stake in the project. These partners are InterContinental Energy (26.4%), CWP Global (17.8%) and Macquarie Capital and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (15.3%).
