Provaris: 2.8 GW green hydrogen project on Tiwi Islands advances

Australian Provaris Energy has informed that it continues to make progress on its Tiwi H2 green hydrogen export project on the Tiwi Islands, Northern Australia through its early works program initiated in late 2022 that covers detailed engineering, permitting and land and project agreements.

It stated that significant feasibility work and reporting has been undertaken, including the owner’s engineer’s (CE Partners) completion of the design feasibility report for the proposed solar farm and transmission system.

Provaris said the design feasibility report advances the concept design of the solar farm and transmission system to a 30% level, providing the basis for optioneering and design optimization, and it assesses the proposed 2,640 ha solar precinct area, with the key outcomes concluding that the area supports 2,600 MWp of solar capacity, the preferred solar system is a single axis tracking system, the annual generation is assessed to be over 5,000 GWh, delivered to the HV transmission system, and a four-circuit 275kV transmission line is proposed from the solar precinct to the hydrogen production and export precincts, being a distance of ~30km.

This modelling of the generation outcomes has led to the expected peak hydrogen production and export volume for the Tiwi H2 project being revised to 90,000 tpa, with a +/- 10,000 tpa allowance for planned optimization processes, which will include the targeting of a reduction in identified power losses and further evaluation of equipment design and selection, Provaris pointed out.

The company further said that the permitting and preparation of the EIS continues, noting it has provided the Tiwi Land Council with its proposed draft project and land agreements for review and comment. The agreements, amongst other things, include details of the proposed annual multi-million dollar community benefits package that the Tiwi H2 project could deliver to the Munupi Clan and Tiwi Island people.

Provaris also stated it is communicating with the Office of Township Leasing regarding its commercial sublease application for the hydrogen production and export precincts, and informed it is in the monitoring and dialogue stages with relevant parties in regard to key port and export-related activities

When it comes to its next steps, it announced the following:

• Environmental consultants are set to continue with the preparation of the EIS, with submission scheduled for early 2024.
• Provaris’ key focus for 2023 is to achieve a satisfactory outcome with the Tiwi Land Council, Tiwi Plantation Corporation, Office of Township Leasing and Deloitte (Port Melville) regarding the contractual agreements and land access required for the Tiwi H2 project.
• Subject to achieving satisfactory progress in relation to the contractual and land access arrangements, the company will then commence the front-end engineering design (FEED) and other engineering studies/activities, including an overall geotechnical, hydrological and earthing/lightning program and the commencement of solar monitoring.
• Discussions with potential joint venture partners for project development through to FEED and a future final investment decision (FID).

To remind, Tiwi H2 is a 2.8 GW renewable green hydrogen project for export markets into Asia. It is a fully integrated compressed hydrogen project, controlled by Provaris, with development underway for solar generation, transmission, H2 production and the export of up to 100,000 tons per annum.

Garry Triglavcanin, Provaris Executive Director & Chief Development Officer, commented: “Provaris continues to progress its Tiwi H2 project, and we are pleased with the detailed work undertaken to date by our owner’s engineer (CE Partner) on the solar farm and transmission system and EcOz, our environmental consultant.”

“The key focus for Provaris is the progression of the project and land agreements with relevant key Tiwi Island stakeholders. Once a satisfactory outcome has been achieved, FEED and further engineering studies are planned to drive the project toward the financial close, targeted for the end of 2024.”

“With the support of key stakeholders, the project development program still allows for Provaris’ targeted first hydrogen production and export in late 2027.”

Martin Carolan, Provaris Chief Executive Officer, stated: “The Tiwi H2 project is a first for the Australian hydrogen industry, with the ambition to efficiently export compressed hydrogen, gaseous green hydrogen that is a pipeline ready high purity gas, simple to discharge for unloading, and an efficient delivery model to kick-off the decarbonization of targeted downstream industries in SE Asia.”

“Provaris welcomes the Federal Government’s recent announcement of the hydrogen headstart funding program for export projects and looks forward to participating in the consultation and future growth of such subsidy schemes designed to accelerate large-scale hydrogen export projects in Australia.”

• Provaris submits EPBC Referral for 2.8 GW green hydrogen project

When it comes to other projects, Provaris emphasized the completion of its first prefeasibility study for a green hydrogen export site in Norway with local partner Norwegian Hydrogen AS. This study confirmed positive economics showcasing the potential to export volumes of up to 50,000 tpa to Europe, using Provaris’ efficient compressed hydrogen supply chain.

Furthermore, the company entered into two separate collaboration agreements with Norwegian Hydrogen AS and Gen2 Energy AS, and it completed and launched a new hydrogen supply chain study highlighting the benefits of compressed hydrogen marine transport.

• Gen2 Energy looking into Provaris’ hydrogen shipping solution for its Åfjord project
• Provaris and Norwegian Hydrogen launch 270MW green hydrogen project in Norway
• Provaris, Norwegian Hydrogen finalise pre-feasibility study on H2 export

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