Iberdrola joins Abel in USD-1.1bn green fuels project in Tasmania

The Aussie unit of Spanish electric utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) has joined forces with Australia-based Abel Energy to build a large-scale green hydrogen and methanol production plant in Tasmania worth around AUD 1.7 billion (USD 1.14bn/EUR 1.07bn).

Dubbed Bell Bay Powerfuels, the project envisages the construction of a plant capable of producing 200,000 tonnes per year of green methanol in the initial stage, to be expanded to reach 300,000 tonnes annually in the second phase. First production is due to begin in 2026, Iberdrola Australia said on Monday.

Do you know we have a daily hydrogen newsletter? Subscribe here for free!

The facility will be located in the Bell Bay industrial centre of northern Tasmania. Its operations will be fuelled by green power coming from new renewable energy plants in the state.

The project was developed by Abel Energy and received a grant of AUD 555,000 from the Tasmanian government to back its AUD-1.3-million feasibility study. Iberdrola and its Aussie partner noted that they are still assessing different technologies for the project.

“Together we can harness Tasmania’s excellent hydro and wind resources to produce hydrogen via electrolysis of water, and then use that hydrogen to produce green methanol for the burgeoning green maritime fuel market and other applications,” said Michael van Baarle, Abel Energy’s co-founder and CEO. He pointed out that major shipping firms such as Denmark’s AP Moeller Maersk A/S have been placing orders for very large ships designed to run on ultraclean-burning green methanol.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.672/EUR 0.632)