Battlelines drawn over Australia's hydrogen 'fork in the road’

A potential stoush is brewing over the future source of energy to power Australia's prospective hydrogen exports, with several states lining up to support renewables over coal at this Friday's energy ministers summit in Perth.

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel will kick off this Friday's COAG
 energy council meeting in Perth with a discussion about hydrogen.

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel will kick off the COAG energy council meeting - the only such gathering in 2019 - with a presentation on Australia's National Hydrogen Strategy, according to a copy of the agenda obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Read the stray from The Sydney Morning Herald by Peter Hannam and Mike Foley - “Battlelines drawn over Australia's hydrogen 'fork in the road’.”

Coal does not have an economic future in Australia

Renewables are stealing the march over coal in Australia, and the international outlook is for lower coal demand. Today the international Coal Transitions project released its findings, based on global coal scenarios and detailed case studies by teams in China, India, South Africa, Australia, Poland and Germany.

The closure of the Hazelwood mine has
lessons for the future of coal in Australia.

Our research on Australian coal transition – based on contributions by researchers at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne – looks into the prospects for coal use in Australia and for exports, and the experiences with local transition in the case of the Hazelwood power station closure.

Read the report from The Conversation by Frank Jotzo and Salim Mazouz - “Coal does not have an economic future in Australia.”