U.S.-based e-fuels company HIF Global has announced plans to locate its Tasmania e-fuels facility at the former Burnie Paper Mill site in South Burnie, a move expected to return long-term employment to the community while supporting the Australian state’s renewable energy ambitions.
HIF Tasmania was first announced in July 2022, with plans to locate the facility on a sustainable forestry plantation at Hampshire, 30 kilometers (km) south of Burnie. Following project engineering, design work, and site review, HIF concluded that the former Pulp Mill site will provide better opportunities for cost-saving modularization and port access, making it a more ideal location for this project.
As disclosed, the plant is set to produce more than 200,000 tonnes of e-methanol per year, create several hundred construction jobs, and approximately 200 permanent jobs during operations.
Ignacio Hernandez, CEO of HIF Asia Pacific, said: “Burnie’s industrial heritage and deepwater port make the old Pulp Mill site the ideal location. Relocating here allows us to bring employment back to this historic site while enabling efficient delivery of large equipment and sustainable use of local resources, such as recycled wastewater from Round Hill Sewage Treatment Plant.”
“We are especially keen to hear from as many people as possible over the coming months so that we can build their feedback into our design. Very soon we will advertise community events where local people can come and ask us questions.”
Ian Jones, President of Business North West, said: “The Pulp site is hugely significant to Burnie and has sat idle and rusting for far too long. I have followed the progress of this project very closely over the last three years and believe this is a golden opportunity for the town to be at the forefront of a new, emerging industry.”
It is understood that HIF Asia Pacific will submit a formal Notice of Intent to the Tasmanian Environmental Protection Agency in the coming weeks, with a Development Application to follow in 2026. Operations could reportedly commence as soon as 2030.
To note, e-fuels are made using renewable electricity to power electrolyzers that separate hydrogen from water. The hydrogen is then combined with recycled carbon dioxide from plantation residues to create e-methanol, a synthetic fuel that can be used in shipping.
In other 2025 news, HIF signed a heads of agreement (HoA) with German energy company Mabanaft for the offtake of e-methanol for the shipping industry. Furthermore, the producer was granted the “first” domestic approval for an e-fuels pathway under the California Air Resource Board’s (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program.