Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is planning major investments in Australia, people privy to the knowledge told a group of visiting journalists here.

The company is exploring the possibility of setting up a green hydrogen/ammonia plant in the state of Western Australia, they said. The group has also hired consultants to explore the feasibility of the project, they added.

Australia (Western Australia in particular) is pitching to the world its suitability for green hydrogen and green ammonia projects, such as easy availability of vast stretches of land and low cost renewable energy.

The Western Australia has set itself a target of A$2/kg of green hydrogen by 2030.

The State is well on its path to achieve the target much before 2030, said Lalit Dogra, Director, Hydrogen and New Energies Division, Government of Western Australia.

Western Australia has more than 30 hydrogen projects in various stages of planning. These include multi billion dollar projects such as H2Perth Hydrogen, Western Australian Energy Hub and Asian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara region.

“With current and planned projects under consideration, we could see Western Australia produce up to 100 GW of renewable energy for hydrogen in the next ten years, which could increase to 200 GW by 2040,” says a January 2023 report, titled ‘Western Australia: An outstanding place for renewable hydrogen investments’, produced by the State government.

There is a deafening buzz around green hydrogen in Australia, with every business, regardless of the industry, is planning to explore the hydrogen sector.

For example, Fortescue Future Industries, whose parent company is a miner-exporter of iron ore, is building a 2GW electrolyser plant in the Queensland. Fortescue has entered into a MoU with Thermax recently for a play in the hydrogen sector in India.

Also read: For these companies, the wait for green hydrogen is over

It is this growing Australian ecosystem that Reliance wants to plug into. Sources said that Reliance’s plans are “massive”, but it is difficult to put a number to the proposed investments as the projects are in their early stages.

Besides Reliance, names of Indian energy majors such as ReNew Power and ACME are making rounds in the country.

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