CANBERRA, AAP – Australia’s first public hydrogen refuelling station has been declared clean and green by carbon auditors.

Getting the tick of approval on Friday, utility firm ActewAGL’s fuel pump in Canberra is the first project to be recognised under the Smart Energy Council’s Zero Carbon Certification Scheme.

“We have now certified that it is powered by 100 per cent renewable energy and that it is producing zero-emissions hydrogen,” council chief executive John Grimes said.

ACT Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Shane Rattenbury, driving a hydrogen car to the facility for refuelling, said renewable hydrogen was the only hydrogen that should be produced in Australia.

“Any investment in the hydrogen industry should be green hydrogen. That is, hydrogen made using renewable electricity,” he said.

 

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The ACT was the first jurisdiction to have a fleet of government cars using the alternative fuel, opting for 20 Hyundai NEXO fuel cell electric vehicles, which emit only water vapour from their exhaust.

“Achieving certification provides certainty to our customers that their vehicles are running on green hydrogen,” ActewAGL boss John Knox said.

Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity through a process called electrolysis.

Other methods involve gas, for so-called blue hydrogen, and coal, to produce brown hydrogen.

Pink hydrogen can also be produced, but not in Australia, as it requires nuclear power.

The Smart Energy Council is also auditing Yara’s planned green ammonia plant in the Pilbara.

Global ammonia producer Yara and ENGIE, a global low-carbon energy and services group, are developing the project – one of the world’s first industrial-scale renewable hydrogen projects.

Five hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle last month joined Queensland’s police fleet in another Australian first.

A Queensland government hydrogen station in Brisbane will enable their NEXOs to refuel, using hydrogen produced in the state.