Japanese gas supplier Iwatani plans to open an office in Brisbane on the west coast of Australia in July, targeting to accelerate development of its hydrogen supply chain.
Iwatani aims to achieve commercial production of hydrogen in Australia and deliveries to Japan by 2030. The Brisbane office will enhance Iwatani's relationship with Australian companies and the Queensland state government, especially in terms of its green hydrogen project with Queensland state-controlled power utility Stanwell. The office will also make it easier for the firm to study the Australian market and infrastructure requirements.
The firm has experimented with generating liquified carbon-free hydrogen from brown coal in Australia's southwestern Victoria and made shipments to the Kobe hydrogen terminal in Japan's eastern Hyogo prefecture. Iwatani worked on the project as one of six members of the CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association.
Iwatani has also began feasibility studies on green hydrogen production and imports to Japan with Stanwell and Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals. The companies are targeting to manufacture carbon-free hydrogen by using renewable power sources such as solar and wind power.
Japanese companies are promoting green hydrogen and ammonia production using renewable power sources to help meet the country's 2050 decarbonisation goal.
Engineering firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries decided last November to invest in Hydrogen Utility (H2U), which has been developing green hydrogen and ammonia projects in Australia. Domestic trading house Marubeni agreed last month to study the production and export of ammonia from hydropower sources with Australian independent Woodside Petroleum.
