BP to Acquire Stake in Major Australian Renewables and Green Hydrogen Project

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) has agreed to acquire a 40.5% stake in, and become operator of, the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) Power-to-X project in western Australia, which will support solar and wind generation and green hydrogen production.

The facility is located in the Pilbara region, one of the largest mining regions in the world. It expects to provide renewable power to Australian customers, and produce green hydrogen and green ammonia for the Australian market and export to international customers.

"AREH is set to be one of the largest renewable and green hydrogen energy hubs in the world and can make a significant contribution to Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region's energy transition," said Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, BP's executive vice president of gas and low-carbon energy in a related press release. "It truly reflects what integrated energy is -- combining solar and onshore wind power with hydrogen production and using it to help transform sectors and regions."

The project plans to generate up to 26 gigawatts (GW) of combined wind and solar power, which could be used to produce around 1.6 million tons per year of green hydrogen or 9 million tons of green ammonia.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Project Database can click here for the project report, and click here for the related plant profile.

BP said it will assume operatorship of the project on July 1, "subject to approvals." It is expected to kick off in mid-2025, with completion by the end of 2027. The other project partners are InterContinental Energy (South Perth, Australia) (26.4%), renewable energy developer CWP Global (Newcastle, New South Wales) (17.8%), and investor Macquarie Capital (Sydney, Australia) and its Green Investment Group division (15.3%).

Also in Australia, BP plans to construct the Geraldton Hydrogen and Ammonia pilot plant in Geraldton, Western Australia, which would develop 4,000 tons per year of hydrogen to be converted to 20,000 tons per year of ammonia. Renewable power for the Power-to-X plant would be provided under a power purchase agreement.

Subscribers to the GMI database can click here for detailed reports for the two projects mentioned in this article, and click here for related plant profiles.

The oil and gas major plans to build out 20 GW of renewable-energy capacity by 2025 and 50 GW by 2030, and seeks to capture 10% of the global hydrogen market.

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