Lion Energy is undertaking preliminary discussions on the supply of green hydrogen to fleet operators and public agencies in Australia, with a focus on Queensland.
As a result, the company intends this to lead to the identification of the location for the first hydrogen production and refuelling station by year-end.
Executive chairman Tom Soulsby has said the company welcomes the recent announcement by the Australian federal government to boost the federal investment under the clean hydrogen industrial hubs program.
“We are very pleased by the government’s response to the opportunity that hydrogen represents for Australia,” he said.
“These announcements demonstrate that hydrogen is increasingly viewed as an essential component of a de-carbonised world and reinforces Lion’s direction to investigate becoming an early domestic producer and distributor of green hydrogen.”
The company is focusing its initial efforts on the production and delivery of green hydrogen for the domestic heavy mobility market.
Soulsby said the heavy mobility sector is ripe for adopting hydrogen as a solution for zero-emission targets.
As part of the company’s stage two strategy, it appointed GPA Engineering in June 2021 to undertake a high-level techno-commercial assessment of a 2000 kg per dat generic hydrogen production refuelling facility.
The objective was to assess the potential business case for further investment in a hydrogen production plant in Australia.
“This work has motivated us to move to second phase. Lion is pleased to report that GPA will now undertake a second phase qualitative and quantitative review of the modular hydrogen compression, storage and dispenser offers received from various vendors,” Soulsby added.
In addition, Lion is also working with the Australian Road Research Board on a business case for hydrogen buses in Queensland.
Soulsby said he was very encouraged by the company’s results so far, with its production concepts, and market approaches well advanced.
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