Integrating hydrogen with electricity networks
At a glance
GHD, in partnership with ACIL Allen, provided advice on Council of Australian Governments Energy Council’s (COAG) development of a National Hydrogen Strategy via the ‘Hydrogen to support electricity systems’ work stream.
Our response
The report assessed the potential role of hydrogen in Australia’s power systems and whether the electricity regulatory frameworks enable large-scale hydrogen production.
The work focused on understanding the interactions between hydrogen and Australia’s on-grid and off-grid power systems. The project team undertook an extensive literature review that considered demonstration projects and barriers to hydrogen production and use internationally, developing learnings for Australia’s electricity sector.
The team also looked at the way that hydrogen production technology could provide benefits to Australia electricity networks. A series of regulatory and policy options were identified that would help electricity markets realise these benefits from the hydrogen sector, as that sector matures.
The team considered the potential for hydrogen opportunities to emerge in the National Electricity Market, South West Interconnected System, North West Interconnected System and the Northern Territory interconnected networks with consideration of the physical network characteristics and the markets that may provide future revenue streams for hydrogen producers that rely on power as an input to produce clean hydrogen.
The team also developed a series of use case scenarios that considered different network configurations and isolated power system applications, and developed indicative deployment timeframes based on geographical, physical, technical and economic considerations