This short film promotes Geoscience Australia's online and publicly accessible hydrogen data products. The film steps through the functionality of GA's Australian Hydrogen Opportunities Tool (AusH2), and describes the upcoming Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool which has been created through a collaborative effort with Monash University.

Australia is well-positioned to remain a global energy supplier and be a leader in driving efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has the potential to produce a range of low emissions energy commodities such as geothermal energy, natural and manufactured hydrogen, and natural gas linked with carbon capture and storage. Our ample solar and wind energy resources also support the deployment of renewable energy technologies across the country. Our geological systems supply the raw materials — such as several of the critical minerals and strategic materials — that are needed to develop the infrastructure and manufacture the batteries and technologies that will support the energy transition. New and emerging opportunities have been identified for energy storage for energy produced from renewable sources, such as through manufacturing hydrogen, hydrogen storage in underground salt caverns, and compressed air energy storage. Australia is recognised for having a large potential to geologically store carbon dioxide. Carbon capture and storage technology can support industries that find it difficult to abate their emissions, including efforts to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere through use of direct air capture technology. Understanding the prospectivity for these resources and the current and emerging energy storage technologies will help to accelerate Australia's journey to a net-zero economy. As Australia’s national public sector geoscience organisation, Geoscience Australia continues to undertake national and regional research and data acquisition, to provide precompetitive data that underpins decision-making by governments and industry and attracts future investment.

There is significant interest in Australia, both federally and at the state level, to develop a hydrogen production industry. Australia’s Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, recently prepared a briefing paper for the COAG Energy Council outlining a road map for hydrogen. It identifies hydrogen has the potential to be a significant source of export revenue for Australia in future years, assist with decarbonising Australia’s economy and could establish Australia as a leader in low emission fuel production. As part of the ongoing investigations into the hydrogen production potential of Australia, Geoscience Australia has been commissioned by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science to develop heat maps that show areas with high potential for future hydrogen production. The study is technology agnostic, in that it considers hydrogen production via electrolysis using renewable energy sources and also fossil fuel hydrogen coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The heat maps presented in this work are synthesized from the key individual national-scale datasets that are relevant for hydrogen production. In the case of hydrogen from electrolysis, renewable energy potential and the availability of water are the most important factors, with various infrastructural considerations playing a secondary role. In the case of fossil fuel hydrogen, proximity to gas and coal resources, water and availability of carbon storage sites are the important parameters that control the heat maps. In this report we present 5 different heat map scenarios, reflecting different assumptions in the geospatial analysis and also reflecting to some degree the different projected timeframes for hydrogen production. The first three scenarios pertain to renewable energy and hydrogen produced by electrolysis. Differences between the three scenarios depend on whether hydrogen is produced near the coastal areas, where infrastructure and water are not issues or whether hydrogen can be produced in inland areas provided water does become a constraining factor. Assumptions regarding the proximity of a currently connected electrical grid to transport renewable energy also play a large role in the different scenarios. The final two scenarios focus on the potential for fossil fuel hydrogen, coupled with CCS, with the difference between the two scenarios being related to the timeframes for readiness for both fossil fuel production and availability of CO2 storage resources. This dataset includes the five scenario raster outputs as produced as part of the Prospective hydrogen production regions of Australia report.

Depleted gas fields can potentially be used for large scale storage of gases such as carbon dioxide, natural gas and hydrogen. Onshore Depleted Gas Fields This dataset maps the spatial distribution of depleted gas fields across onshore Australia. Underground Gas Storage Facilities This dataset maps the spatial distribution of underground gas storage facilities across Australia. Underground gas storage facilities utilise depleted gas fields for the seasonal storage of natural gas in Australia. The injection, withdrawal and storage capacities of each underground gas storage facility is included within this dataset. This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia.

<div>Hydrogen is expected to be a key driver of the globe’s transition to net zero. &nbsp;</div><div>Australia is investing significantly, across government and business, as it pushes towards scalable and cost-effective hydrogen production. The Australian Government wants to develop and cultivate the domestic hydrogen industry to become a hydrogen superpower – exporting clean energy across the globe. With current expectations that the hydrogen industry could add an additional $50 billion to Australia’s GDP, the industry presents a great opportunity to support economic growth as Australia transitions to net zero (DCCEEW, 2022a). &nbsp;</div><div>However, much of hydrogen production remains unproven commercially at the necessary scale and there are still a lot of unknowns about how to effectively build this industry in Australia. &nbsp;</div><div>Geoscience Australia (GA), as Australia’s national geoscience agency, is undertaking precompetitive geoscience data and analysis to support the hydrogen sector. This includes conducting research and data analysis to lower the risk of exploration for natural hydrogen and salt caverns, the development of tools to support decision-making by hydrogen producers, and economic assessments into the feasibility of green steel production.&nbsp;</div><div>The economic benefits of precompetitive geoscience data and analysis for the hydrogen industry Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) was engaged to identify, quantify and, where possible, monetise the economic benefits of GA’s work across four case studies. &nbsp;</div><div>As hydrogen is a nascent sector, there is little to no current commercial activity. This limits the ability to estimate the full extent of the economic benefits of GA’s work. As the hydrogen industry matures over the next five years, we expect more economic benefits will be realised, particularly as tenement uptake translates into hydrogen production. &nbsp;</div><div>Through analysis of four current case studies, it is evident that GA’s work is providing clarity and confidence to support large-scale investment decisions. Overall, GA’s work has the potential to deliver Australia an important competitive advantage and fast-track development of the local hydrogen industry. &nbsp;</div><div>Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT): found to enable timely and informed decision-making and lower the risk of investing in, and entering, the hydrogen industry. Specifically, the tool provides significant efficiencies for hydrogen companies, saving $30,000 to $50,000 per prospective project in time and reduced due diligence costs. &nbsp;</div><div>GA research on natural hydrogen: expected to have stimulated tenement uptake activity in South Australia, to explore for natural hydrogen. If even just one tenement was taken up as a result of GA’s data, it could be associated with economic benefits of around $22 million to the hydrogen industry, over a ten-year period (2022-23 to 2031-32). &nbsp;</div><div>GA research on salt cavern storage: hydrogen storage can be prohibitively expensive, which can stall the development of hydrogen projects. GA’s research highlighted salt caverns as a cheaper alternative. If just one industry player switched from conventional gas storage to salt caverns, salt cavern storage could lower the cost by $208 million, over ten years. In addition, salt cavern storage could avoid the loss of $4.1 million worth of hydrogen over the same period (2022-23 to 2031-32). &nbsp;</div><div>The techno-economic assessment of green steel production: GA’s research identified cost-effective locations for green steel production, which could be competitive with conventional steel at a carbon price of $148 per tonne of carbon dioxide&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

This web map service provides visualisations of the outputs from the five scenarios assessed in the analysis of prospective hydrogen production regions of Australia. Datasets used as inputs into the hydrogen production prospectivity analysis have been sourced from the Department of Environment and Energy, PSMA Australia, Garrad Hassan Pacific Pty. Ltd., Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and Geoscience Australia.

This web map service provides visualisations of the outputs from the five scenarios assessed in the analysis of prospective hydrogen production regions of Australia. Datasets used as inputs into the hydrogen production prospectivity analysis have been sourced from the Department of Environment and Energy, PSMA Australia, Garrad Hassan Pacific Pty. Ltd., Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and Geoscience Australia.

This web map service provides visualisations of datasets used as inputs into the analysis of prospective hydrogen production regions of Australia. The service has been developed using datasets sourced from the Department of Environment and Energy, PSMA Australia, Garrad Hassan Pacific Pty. Ltd., Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and Geoscience Australia

<div>The Proterozoic basins of northern Australia have been the focus of regional hydrocarbon prospectivity studies undertaken by the Exploring for the Future&nbsp;program dedicated to increasing investment in resource exploration in northern Australia. As part of this program, a compilation of the compound-specific isotopic compositions of linear alkanes in source extracts, oils and oil stains from 21 boreholes&nbsp;of the greater McArthur Basin has been completed. The samples were analysed in Geoscience Australia’s Isotope and Organic Geochemistry Laboratory and the stable carbon and hydrogen isotopic data of individual alkanes are released in this report. </div>

<p>There is significant interest in Australia, both federally and at the state level, to develop a hydrogen production industry. Australia’s Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, recently prepared a briefing paper for the COAG Energy Council outlining a road map for hydrogen. It identifies hydrogen has the potential to be a significant source of export revenue for Australia in future years, assist with decarbonising Australia’s economy and could establish Australia as a leader in low emission fuel production. As part of the ongoing investigations into the hydrogen production potential of Australia, Geoscience Australia has been commissioned by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science to develop heat maps that show areas with high potential for future hydrogen production. The study is technology agnostic, in that it considers hydrogen production via electrolysis using renewable energy sources and also fossil fuel hydrogen coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The heat maps presented in this work are synthesized from the key individual national-scale datasets that are relevant for hydrogen production. In the case of hydrogen from electrolysis, renewable energy potential and the availability of water are the most important factors, with various infrastructural considerations playing a secondary role. In the case of fossil fuel hydrogen, proximity to gas and coal resources, water and availability of carbon storage sites are the important parameters that control the heat maps. In this report we present 5 different heat map scenarios, reflecting different assumptions in the geospatial analysis and also reflecting to some degree the different projected timeframes for hydrogen production. The first three scenarios pertain to renewable energy and hydrogen produced by electrolysis. Differences between the three scenarios depend on whether hydrogen is produced near the coastal areas, where infrastructure and water are not issues or whether hydrogen can be produced in inland areas provided water does become a constraining factor. Assumptions regarding the proximity of a currently connected electrical grid to transport renewable energy also play a large role in the different scenarios. The final two scenarios focus on the potential for fossil fuel hydrogen, coupled with CCS, with the difference between the two scenarios being related to the timeframes for readiness for both fossil fuel production and availability of CO2 storage resources. <p>This dataset includes the raster inputs used for the five scenarios as part of the Prospective hydrogen production regions of Australia report.