Proposed rules on green hydrogen would prove “catastrophic” for the country’s clean energy export ambitions and may result in taxpayers rewarding producers for making the gas using fossil fuels, clean hydrogen advocates say.
The federal government’s proposed criteria for access to $6.7 billion in subsidies has appalled those who argue that Australian standards must match strict criteria in the European Union and the rules planned in the United States.
Michael Myer, executive chairman of Sunshine Hydro – which uses Enosi’s technology – said the draft rules would have a “perverse” outcome. He said they would result in a transfer of taxpayers’ money to Europe because hydrogen produced here , using government subsidies, would be taxed at the border in Europe because it would not qualify as “green”.
“It’s the most extraordinary piece of policy structuring I’ve ever read in my 50 years history,” said Mr Myer, acknowledging that Sunshine Hydro would be a major beneficiary of the incentives – to the tune of $60 million a year – through a project near Gladstone, Queensland. “It will achieve exactly the opposite of what they are trying to achieve.”
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Article originally published by Angela Macdonald-Smith in Australian Financial Review (AFR)