In the Pilbara area of Western Australia, ENGIE will construct one of the first large-scale renewable hydrogen plants in the world.
The 10-megawatt (MW) electrolyzer for making renewable hydrogen, an 18-megawatt (MW) solar PV system to power the electrolyzer, and an 8-megawatt/five-megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery are all included in the A$87 million Yuri project. The electrolyzer will be the biggest in Australia when it is finished.
Joint partnership with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. of Japan
To carry out the project, ENGIE established a subsidiary named Yuri. To run the project, it has formed a joint venture with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. The Yuri subsidiary will sell a 28% interest to Mitsui.
In Australia, we have a robust pipeline of projects involving hydrogen, storage, and renewable energy, according to Andrew Hyland, CEO of ENGIE Australia & New Zealand.
We are getting closer to decarbonizing our economy and achieving our lofty net zero objectives as each of these projects reaches financial closure, construction, and commissioning.
Supplying environmentally friendly hydrogen to Yara’s massive ammonia production
In the Pilbara area of Western Australia, Yuri will construct the plant close to the world-scale ammonia manufacturing facility of Yara Australia. Up to 640 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year will be produced by the plant for the facility. The top crop nutrition firm in the world, Yara International of Norway, owns Yara Australia.
One of the biggest ammonia-producing facilities in the world is the Yara complex. To accept and employ green hydrogen molecules to create clean ammonia, it will be the first operational facility developed in Western Australia.
Initiative Yuri is a revolutionary project for the company’s processing activities in the Pilbara, according to Laurent Trost, general manager of Yara Pilbara.
The decarbonization of our activities, which currently serve markets in Asia and Australia, is a crucial step, according to Trost.
In October 2022, Yuri will start construction on the factory. Early 2024 is the target completion date.
Government assistance
The Australian Government’s ARENA Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round provided $47.5 million to the Yuri project. Since 2012, 628 projects have been financed by ARENA (the Australian Renewable Energy Agency) with grant financing totaling A$1.86 billion.
As part of the Western Australian Government’s Renewable Hydrogen Strategy, the project will also receive A$2 million from the Renewable Hydrogen Fund.
