Victoria's plans for hydrogen exports to Japan are 'way of making brown coal look green'

Latrobe’s Hazelwood power station will close
 on 31 March and the Victorian government
 is looking to create new jobs there.

Victorian government plans to work with a Japanese company to produce hydrogen from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley are “a way of making brown coal look green”, according to one expert.

The proposed plant, which would be run by Kawasaki Heavy Industries as part of their Kawasaki Hydrogen Road project, would produce liquid hydrogen that would then be exported to Japan to be used in hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Maritime authorities from both Australia and Japan signed a world-first deal to ship liquid hydrogen in Canberra on Wednesday, but Victoria’s acting resources minister, Philip Dalidakis, said the project was still “in the very early stages”.

Read Calla Wahlquist’s story on The Guardian - “Victoria's plans for hydrogen exports to Japan are 'way of making brown coal look green'.”