APA group is currently investigating the feasibility of converting the Parmelia gas pipeline, which is a high-pressure gas transmission pipeline, into one that transports hydrogen.
The study, which is the first of its kind in Australia, has yielded promising results thus far – indicating that gas pipelines could be the key to producing and transporting green hydrogen and achieving net-zero emissions in Australia.
According to Steve Davies, the CEO of APGA, this is an “exciting development”.
“Gas infrastructure owner/operators are leading the way in getting green hydrogen into the energy system,” he said. “The decarbonisation task is massive, and all sectors need to decarbonise. The gas sector is no different. It is clear that replacing natural gas with hydrogen and biogas offers a faster pathway to economy wide decarbonisation.”
The project is already informing our understanding of how gas infrastructure can be used to transport and deliver renewable gas.
“The electricity sector has enough of a task decarbonising its existing generation capacity. Gas delivers more energy to Australian homes and business than the electricity sector, and we can decarbonise gas faster than electricity can expand to take on huge new demand,” Davies said.
“By leveraging existing infrastructure through projects such as the one announced last week, costs can be kept as low as possible and disruptions to the community can be minimised by avoiding the need to build extensive networks of new infrastructure.”
More information can be found on the APGA website.