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Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one O, four to nine.

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Speaker 2: Now, we've learned that the territory government is investing five

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Speaker 2: million dollars over four years to accelerate and expand the

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Speaker 2: territory's hydrogen industry, following on from the master Plan released

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Speaker 2: last year to position the Northern Territory as a global

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Speaker 2: leader in transitioning to renewable energy. Joining me to discuss

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Speaker 2: the investment is the Executive Director of Sustainable Energy at

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Speaker 2: the Office of Sustainable Energy, Matthew Sergeant.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to.

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Speaker 3: You, Morning, Katy.

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Speaker 1: Matthew. Where are we.

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Speaker 2: At right now when it comes to hydrogen in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory, Because I reckon there's going to be lots

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Speaker 2: of people listening like me who maybe don't have a

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Speaker 2: huge idea you know what it all means and where

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Speaker 2: we are at in the territory.

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Speaker 3: Sure, at the moment, I suppose the industry is at

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Speaker 3: an early stage of development. So we've seen a number

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Speaker 3: of demonstration projects start up in other jurisdictions. We don't

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Speaker 3: have anything going in the territory the moment, but we

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Speaker 3: do have some major projects that are being looked at

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Speaker 3: by some project proponents, including Desert Bloom in our springs

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Speaker 3: and also global energy ventures on the Tiwi Islands. So

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Speaker 3: they're looking to set up major production facilities to produce

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Speaker 3: renewable hydrogen for export to places like China, Japan and Korea.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Right, so there is some you know, there is some

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Speaker 2: stuff on the horizon already. With this five million dollar

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Speaker 2: investment that was made yesterday, what is that going to

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Speaker 2: mean for the Northern Territory. Is it going to mean

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Speaker 2: that we can sort of try to get the ball rolling?

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Speaker 3: It does, So the five million dollar investment from the

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Speaker 3: charity of government's fantastic. It's going to allow the Office

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Speaker 3: of Sustainable Energy to implement those enabling things that will

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Speaker 3: help develop the industry. So we're looking at establishing fits

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Speaker 3: for purpose standards and regulations, putting in place measures to

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Speaker 3: ensure that our workforce has the skills and capabilities to

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Speaker 3: fill jobs within the emerging hydrogen industry, and ensuring that

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Speaker 3: industry planning is integrated with things like infrastructure development and

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Speaker 3: the transport on a logistic sector.

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Speaker 2: You know, when you talk about this announcement, what is

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Speaker 2: it sort of going to do or what you know,

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Speaker 2: what's it going to be doing in terms of filling

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Speaker 2: that gap. I suppose in terms of the energy market,

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Speaker 2: it sounds like it's more sort of you know, trying

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Speaker 2: to get us going right from the start.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So renewable hydrogen has a huge promise. So it's

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Speaker 3: an emissions free technology, so it can be produced and

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Speaker 3: used without any greenhouse gas emissions, and it can be

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Speaker 3: used in applications to replace things like eagel and also

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Speaker 3: natural gas, in industries like transport, electricity generation, and in

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Speaker 3: industrial applications such as fertilizer manufacturing. So renewable hydrogen presents

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Speaker 3: an opportunity for the territory to reduce its own greenhouse

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Speaker 3: gas emissions and to create jobs through the development of

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Speaker 3: an export industry.

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Speaker 2: We talk a lot about gas, or we certainly you know,

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Speaker 2: hear a lot about gas in the Northern Territory, but

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Speaker 2: by the sounds of it, when it comes to high ydrogen,

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Speaker 2: there are different different, different sort of forms.

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Speaker 1: Is that a correct way of saying it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So there are a number of different forms. So

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Speaker 3: the Northern Charity Government's focused on renewable or green hydrogen,

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Speaker 3: which is basically producing hydrogen through electrolysis, basically taking electricity

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Speaker 3: from renewable energy sources, running it through an electrolyzer, splitting

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Speaker 3: out hydrogen atoms from water molecules, capturing the gas, and

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Speaker 3: then using that, storing it and using it.

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Speaker 2: How does that investment help us to move forward in

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Speaker 2: this space.

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Speaker 1: Here in the end.

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Speaker 3: So I think there's two benefits from hydrogen. First Off,

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Speaker 3: we need to I guess, reduce our missions ourselves. So

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Speaker 3: the charity has a fifty per renewable target by twenty

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Speaker 3: thirty and a net zeromissions target by twenty fifty. So

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Speaker 3: if we're if renewable hydrogen and it has huge potential

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Speaker 3: to assist us meeting those targets. But if we're it

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Speaker 3: fits to make a significant contribution, we need to get

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Speaker 3: started on planning the industry now. But also secondly, it's

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Speaker 3: a technology that's attracted huge interests globally as a number

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Speaker 3: of jurisdicis well. Basically most countries are seeking churches net

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Speaker 3: zero emissions by twenty fifty, so there's going to be

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Speaker 3: a huge demand for renewable energy. A number of countries

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Speaker 3: can't produce that themselves. For example, they don't have the

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Speaker 3: renewable resources that we have, and so they're looking to

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Speaker 3: import and hydrogen as is basically a mechanism by which

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Speaker 3: we can produce renewable energy, store it, transport it and

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Speaker 3: sell it overseas. So it's huge potential for economic growth.

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Speaker 2: So what makes us different here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: Matthew likewise, it that we can do more than what

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Speaker 2: some other locations around.

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Speaker 3: The world can well, So we've got a few advantages.

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Speaker 3: So we're very close to major importing or potentially importing

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Speaker 3: countries in China, Japan and Korea. We have a well

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Speaker 3: recognized world scale solar resource, so we have very good

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Speaker 3: sunshine which reduced the cost of of hydrogen production. So

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Speaker 3: there's some of the key benefits that we see for

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Speaker 3: the territory. We also have a small jurisdiction and we

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Speaker 3: can be agile in terms of amending our regulations to

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Speaker 3: ensure that the industry development's are facilitated when it comes

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Speaker 3: to energy.

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Speaker 2: Right now, I suppose you'd have to say that there's

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Speaker 2: a law of discussion on a national scale, and there's

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Speaker 2: also that discussion about retaining some of our own resources

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Speaker 2: to ensure that those Eastern States aren't the situation that

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Speaker 2: they're in right now.

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Speaker 1: Well, again, I.

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Speaker 2: Suppose will there be measures put in place when it

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Speaker 2: comes to hydrogen to ensure that we keep some of

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Speaker 2: that resource here in the Northern Territory and indeed within

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Speaker 2: Australia to benefit us.

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Speaker 3: Look, that's an important consideration. I think the important step

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Speaker 3: for us at the moment is to get the industry

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Speaker 3: up and running. Yeah, so too attractive esment in those

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Speaker 3: demonstration projects and also the large scale projects that are

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Speaker 3: looking to export to international markets, and then look at

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Speaker 3: ways that we can use some of that and access

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Speaker 3: some of that hydrogen that's been produced for our own uses.

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Speaker 2: How far away are we do you reckon, Matthew in

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Speaker 2: terms of, you know, getting some of these projects up

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Speaker 2: and running.

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Speaker 3: So the project on the Tbo Islands, for example, is

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Speaker 3: targeting exports from twenty twenty six. So we are very

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Speaker 3: close to seeing companies make significant investment decisions about whether

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Speaker 3: they'll proceed with those projects.

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Speaker 2: All right, And I'm assuming as well that you know

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Speaker 2: when we talk about these projects that one of the

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Speaker 2: important factors at play as well is making sure that

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Speaker 2: territorians are indeed employed.

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Speaker 3: That's right, And part of the work that we're going

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Speaker 3: to go through as the Office of Sustainable Energy is

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Speaker 3: making sure that our workforce has the skills and capabilities

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Speaker 3: to fill those roles, and make sure that you know

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Speaker 3: we've got the workforce that can fill those jobs as

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Speaker 3: opposed to having people come in from outside.

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Speaker 2: Well, Matthew Sargent, I really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate you having a chat with US Executive Director of

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Speaker 2: Sustainable Energy at the Office of Sustainable Energy. Thanks so

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Speaker 2: much for your time this morning, Matthew, Thank Eddie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one O four nine's three

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Speaker 1: sixty