The New Zealand arm of Australian industrial gases company Coregas has joined the Halcyon Green Hydrogen project which aims to launch the country’s first green hydrogen fast refuelling station.
Located on Coregas NZ’s Manukau site, the hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) will supply green hydrogen for heavy vehicles in an effort to decarbonise heavy-duty transport in the country.
The development follows Halcyon’s previous venture, which saw Tūaropaki Trust and Obayashi Corporation join forces to open NZ’s first green hydrogen production facility at the Mōkai geothermal power plant in 2021.
Backed up by low-carbon credential traceability, the plant uses electricity generated by Tūaropaki Power Company to produce 180 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.
According to Peter Neate, General Manager at Coregas NZ, taking charge of Halcyon’s express refueller will help support the transport evolution for NZ.
“The transport and trucking sector in New Zealand remains a largely untapped opportunity for hydrogen-fuelled heavy vehicles, which deliver a lighter, longer-distance solution combined with fast refuelling and high payload capability,” he said.
To advance the project Coregas took experience from the recent launch of the AU$2m (US$1.3m) H2Station, Australia’s first HRS for heavy vehicles.
Fuel cell electric cars typically go 300 miles or more on a full tank of hydrogen, with the ability to refuel in three to five minutes.
As part of the company’s goal to expand the green hydrogen supply chain, it has also invested in a Toyota Mirai dubbed H2Motuka.
Using its model of hydrogen hubs, including the 1.25GW Mōkai green energy hub, Halcyon’s goal is to create a green hydrogen supply chain for New Zealand, Japan, and other countries.
“This is a great example of what can be achieved by private enterprise, expertise and international collaboration ahead of effective mechanisms in NZ which acknowledge the true value of green hydrogen while also reflecting the true environmental cost of high carbon fuels such as diesel,” said Tatsuya Inokuchi, General Manager at Obayashi Corporation.
Hydrogen in New Zealand
The development of a Hydrogen Roadmap was included as an action in New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan in 2022.
The roadmap builds on a 2019 green paper ‘A Vision for Hydrogen’ and forms a pillar of the forthcoming New Zealand Energy Strategy (due by the end of 2024) alongside other projects including the Gas Transition Plan, Energy Market Measures project, Offshore Renewable Energy regulatory framework project and the New Zealand Battery Project.
A report prepared by Ernst and Young for New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) revealed that – to meet the growth in demand for hydrogen – the base case modelling suggests the country would need around 12.5GW of new wind and solar generation by 2050.
Other forecasts suggest that by 2050, New Zealand would need an additional 10GW+ of electricity generation capacity to support electrification.
Transpower’s March 2023 monitoring report suggests there is 30GW of potential generation in the pipeline, which if all realised, could support both electrification and some hydrogen production.
