Iron ore and green energy company Fortescue has started construction on its $150 million PEM50 green hydrogen project in Gladstone, Queensland. Scheduled to begin hydrogen production in 2025, the project will unfold in two stages. The initial stage features a 30MW electrolyzer plant, and the second stage will add another 20MW of capacity, contingent on upgrades to the site’s water supply infrastructure, expected by 2028.
Proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology underpins this project. Fortescue launched the 15,000 sqm Gladstone manufacturing base in April, slated to produce around 2 gigawatts (GW) of electrolyzers annually. However, Fortescue revised its ambitious goal of producing 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year by 2030 in July, scaling back four hydrogen projects due to high electricity costs and limited demand.
Fortescue also shelved plans for a 550 MW electrolyser facility for green ammonia production at Gibson Island near Brisbane, citing concerns about power prices. Even in 2022, when Fortescue revealed its ambitious target, the company acknowledged it would be a “stretch goal.”
Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries disclosed the massive scale required to meet the 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen production target by 2030. The projection necessitated 150GW of hydrogen electrolyzers and an extraordinary 450GW of renewable energy capacity—roughly nine times Australia’s current large-scale generation capacity. At that time, global electrolyzer production was only around 1GW.
CEO Mark Hutchinson stated during the company’s August earnings call, “The green hydrogen market, globally, is still developing and, currently, the cost of power in many countries is too high. What we won’t do is give up when power costs are prohibitive, we’ll work to bring those costs down longer term. We believe that green hydrogen is what the world ultimately needs, and that’s why we continue to maintain a significant portfolio of potential projects.”
