Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Gerard Reiter CEO Desert Bloom Hydrogen about the new Central Australia off-grid hydrogen project

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Katie spoke with Gerard Reiter CEO Desert Bloom Hydrogen about the new Central Australia off-grid hydrogen project · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: An off grid hydrogen project in Central Australia.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: It's building momentum.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Government has announced that it's gained major
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: project status. Now joining me on the line to tell
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: us a little bit more about the situation and exactly
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: what it means and what it's going to mean for
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: We have got the CEO. Let me just make sure
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: i've got that phone line up.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: The CEO, Jared Writer from Desert Bloom Hydrogen.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Jared.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. Thanks very much for having my show
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  Speaker 3: this morning. I'm really looking forward to talking with this morning. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm keen to find out a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: about exactly what the off grid hydrogen project in Central
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  Speaker 1: Australia is all about.
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  Speaker 2: Tell us exactly where it's going to be.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So, the Desert Bloom Hydrogen project that we're working on,
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  Speaker 3: the first stage that we've got coming is going to
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  Speaker 3: be at the Tenant Creek township and we've been working
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: with the Northern Territory Government on looking at a piece
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: of land there. An initial project is designed to produce
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  Speaker 3: hydrogen for use by the power station at Tenant Creek
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  Speaker 3: and Jared, So.
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  Speaker 1: At Tenant Creek or just there at Tenant Creek, it's
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  Speaker 1: expected or the headline in the paper today is that
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  Speaker 1: it's expected that it could mean a thousand jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Are they local jobs?
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  Speaker 3: Look? Absolutely yeah. Desert Bloom Hydrogen is a project that
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  Speaker 3: is designed to scale up to export renewable hydrogen, so
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  Speaker 3: we think it will rival the natural gas industry in
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  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory. There's certainly a huge opportunity globally with
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  Speaker 3: renewable hydrogen really being the fuel of the future, and
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  Speaker 3: we see that in a lot of announcements that are
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  Speaker 3: going on recently around the world, with a lot of
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: people putting a lot of interest into renewable hydrogen.
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  Speaker 1: Jared, I know some people listening this morning will be thinking,
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  Speaker 1: all right, I don't know exactly what this means and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: how it all works, but I know that there has
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  Speaker 1: been discussion about whether it's sort of hydrogen based on
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: gas or whether it is totally renewable. What's the case
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: with this particular project.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Katie, I'm pleased to say that this is really
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  Speaker 3: a truly renewable hydrogen project that we've got here. So
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  Speaker 3: our project relies solely on renewable solar PV generation for
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  Speaker 3: turning water into hydrogen, and the water that we're getting
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  Speaker 3: actually has been captured from atmosphere in a patented process
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  Speaker 3: that we've been working on over the last two years.
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  Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit more about sort of
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  Speaker 1: the timeline. How quickly are you expecting this all to
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  Speaker 1: start happening. Obviously it's been granted a major project status
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  Speaker 1: by the Northern Territory government, but how soon could work
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: realistically get underway.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question, Katie. We've been talking with
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  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory Government for quite some time now about
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  Speaker 3: the project. Unfortunately, COVID restrictions have made it difficult to
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  Speaker 3: get up to the Northern Territory to do some of
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: the work that we require. We certainly intend to be
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  Speaker 3: doing works on the ground next year in twenty twenty two,
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  Speaker 3: and we're really looking forward to being able to get
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  Speaker 3: up into the territory now that we're seeing restrictions changing
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: with regard to COVID.
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  Speaker 1: And obviously, like you pointed out, during that construction phase,
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  Speaker 1: there is going to need to be quite a large workforce,
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  Speaker 1: and you want them to be local by the sounds
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of it, But ongoing. I mean, once the project is
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: up and running, how many staff will be required or
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: how many workers will be required.
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  Speaker 2: And again, is there going to be a push for
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  Speaker 2: territory jobs.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, there to push the territory jobs. When we look
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  Speaker 3: at the project, Katie, one of the things that is
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: really great about is that we're going to have operational
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  Speaker 3: jobs on the ground. You know, we'll be looking for
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  Speaker 3: people with electrical and mechanical trades. Obviously it's quite a
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: complex project as well, so we'll be looking for engineering
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  Speaker 3: and technical resources. And because the project's so large, you know,
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  Speaker 3: when you think about it's a fifteen billion dollar project,
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  Speaker 3: we'll be looking for substantial jobs around about one hundred
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  Speaker 3: and twenty people working throughout the territory when it goes
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  Speaker 3: into full operation.
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  Speaker 1: And then when you talk about you know, when you
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: talk about this hydrogen I know that you touched on
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  Speaker 1: the Tenant Creek power station, but you know, where are
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  Speaker 1: you expecting it to be sort of you know, or
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  Speaker 1: what areas? Is it going to just be Tenant Creek
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  Speaker 1: that it's going to, you know, to hopefully help out here,
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  Speaker 1: or will it go sort of further than that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a really great question. Katie. I mean, if
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  Speaker 3: you have a look at the Northern Territory government's renewable
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  Speaker 3: Hydrogen strategy that recently released, they've shown a whole area
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  Speaker 3: around Central Australia where they've called their Renewable Energy Precinct
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  Speaker 3: for renewable hydrogen. And because we've got a modular system,
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  Speaker 3: we actually can locate it in multiple locations around the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory, so we see the project being able to
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  Speaker 3: provide benefits more broadly than just in Tenant Creek, but
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  Speaker 3: in other places around the territory as well.
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  Speaker 1: Is it going to mean cheaper power for territory in
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  Speaker 1: or does it just mean greener?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it really amounts to greener and it
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  Speaker 3: certainly will be cheaper in the long term. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the price of renewable hydrogen is targeted to come down
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  Speaker 3: to round two US dollars per kilogram by twenty twenty seven.
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  Speaker 3: There's obviously a lot of activity in the renewable hydrogen
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  Speaker 3: space around the world and it's really driving down costs
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  Speaker 3: and we're certainly seeing that in a lot of projects
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  Speaker 3: that are happening overseas well.
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  Speaker 2: Jared, I appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there's no doubt there's still plenty of
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: work to get under way, but as you said, they're
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  Speaker 1: hoping to get back into the.
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory from early next year. By the sounds of it.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie, we're certainly looking to get up there. We've
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  Speaker 3: got a pilot plant currently on site at Tennant Creek
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  Speaker 3: and I'll be really happy to get back there and
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  Speaker 3: actually do a little bit more work on a pilot plant,
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  Speaker 3: and then we're looking forward to getting into full construction
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  Speaker 3: next year.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I really appreciate you having a quick chat with
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  Speaker 1: us this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Jared, Thanks Katie, really PreCure at
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  Speaker 3: the time, and thanks to all your listeners.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you.