Brisbane, 23 August 2019: Leading gas and engineering company BOC, a subsidiary of Linde plc, today announced the commencement of a Queensland-first renewable hydrogen project at its production facility in Bulwer Island, Brisbane. 

The $3.1 million end-to-end renewable hydrogen supply project received $950,000 funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and is supported by the Queensland Government.  

BOC will install a 220 kW electrolyser supplied by ITM Power and 100 kW solar array to produce renewable hydrogen through electrolysis at its Bulwer Island site. The electrolyser will have capacity to produce up to 2,400 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per month to power hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEV) and supply BOC’s industrial customers.   

A state-of-the-art hydrogen refuelling station will also be supplied and installed by BOC at a site in Brisbane, with capability to refuel HFCEVs in under 3 minutes.  

John Evans, Managing Director BOC South Pacific said the project will leverage BOC’s existing infrastructure and expertise across the entire hydrogen supply chain, and support the introduction of hydrogen as a zero emissions fuel in Queensland and Australia. 

“BOC is proud to be establishing a local supply of renewable hydrogen in Queensland that can be easily scalable and replicated across the country. We will also demonstrate our leading refueller technology that has been widely adopted across Europe and the US.   

“The renewable hydrogen we produce will provide added environmental value to our industrial customers and facilitate the introduction of HFCEVs in Queensland, while supporting our own production processes at Bulwer Island. 

“We look forward to working with ARENA and our other partners to create new learning opportunities and build skills for a future hydrogen industry – which are key priorities outlined in the Queensland Hydrogen Industry Strategy and the upcoming National Hydrogen Strategy.”  

ARENA CEO, Darren Miller, Chief Executive Officer said BOC’s project would help to encourage other companies to enter the hydrogen market.  

“BOC’s project is a great example of how current industrial gas equipment and infrastructure can be used to take advantage of the growing hydrogen market. Producing hydrogen on site will reduce shipping costs, while being able to help grow the local Brisbane fuel cell vehicle market and also meet demand for local industry.” 

The project is expected to be completed by mid-2020.