The statement was included in a discussion paper on Australia’s electricity and energy sector plan, which closed to public comment in the first week of April.
The Australian government has named hydrogen alongside green metals, critical minerals and clean energy manufacturing as “priority clean energy industry opportunities” in the energy transition.
The proposed plan reiterated the importance of taking advantage of Australia’s natural resources, arguing that securing such opportunities will depend “on our ability to rapidly deploy reliable and clean energy at scale”.
The new industries will be critical to building new clean energy export industries and maintaining “Australia’s role as a provider of regional energy security”, underpinned by cheap renewable energy from Australia’s abundant sunshine and wind, the report read.
These new industries would in turn unlock investment in renewable energy and infrastructure, underscoring the importance of the energy sector to Australia’s transition, the paper argued.
The discussion document noted that, according to Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (ETI) estimates, developing hydrogen and green iron export industries could lead to a six-fold increase in electricity generation by 2050.
A doubling of electricity generation would be needed to simply decarbonise Australia’s domestic systems, without building new export industries.
Offshore wind is a key target in the Australian government’s plans to diversify the country’s energy and electricity mix.
“Building an offshore wind industry will also provide significant economic opportunities, particularly in the regions,” the paper said, noting that Australia is coming late to this “important resource” that offers an abundance of both energy and jobs.
The document asked for views on mobilising investment in the energy transformation, including managing energy supply and demand to meet uncertain net-zero transition needs.
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