With the consultation of industry and key stakeholders, Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER) announced in December 2021 that it is working to develop an internationally consistent Guarantee of Origin (GO) scheme for hydrogen. On 17 May 2022, the CER confirmed that 17 hydrogen projects have signed up to a trial to help it understand how a GO scheme could work in practice.
As explored in our article, Fifty Shades of Green, there is no internationally agreed upon definition for green hydrogen (GH2), which complicates its certification. Unlike other certification schemes, the GO scheme will not focus purely on certifying GH2 but will also measure the emissions produced from several production methods and display key attributes of how and where a unit of hydrogen is produced. The scheme is said to work like a ticket, which may be distributed by third parties but will be validated on a single shared registry. This registry would ensure that the CER can monitor and trace tickets and alleviate the need to cross-check contracts.
While such a scheme will involve additional compliance costs to quantify emission intensity, the resulting emission transparency will boost the credibility and business case of renewable hydrogen producers. The GO trials will not only inform an Australian hydrogen certification scheme, but also play a role in shaping international certification standards.
A list of the hydrogen projects involved in the GO trials announced on 17 May 2022 can be seen in the table below.
| Project name | Company | Production technology | State |
| Hydrogen Park South Australia | AGIG | Electrolysis | SA |
| Hydrogen Park Gladstone | AGIG | Electrolysis | QLD |
| Hydrogen Park Murray Valley | AGIG/ENGIE | Electrolysis | VIC |
| Clean Energy Innovation Park | AGIG/ ATCO | Electrolysis | WA |
| Blue Economy CRC | Blue Economy CRC/ Pitt & Sherry/ BOC | Electrolysis | TAS |
| Renewable Hydrogen Production and Refuelling Project | BOC | Electrolysis | QLD |
| Renewable Hydrogen Production and Refuelling Project | BOC | Steam Methane Reforming | VIC |
| Geraldton Export-Scale Renewable Investment | BP | Electrolysis | WA |
| H2Kwinana | BP/ Macquarie Capital | Electrolysis | WA |
| Clean Energy Innovation Hub | ATCO | Electrolysis | WA |
| Christmas Creek Renewable Hydrogen Mobility Project | FFI/FMG | Electrolysis | WA |
| Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Pilot Project | Hydrogen Engineering Australia on behalf of a consortium | Coal gasification | VIC |
| Singapore Green Energy Supply Chain | Incitec Pivot/ Keppel New Energy/ Temasek | Electrolysis | NSW |
| Dyno Nobel Renewable Hydrogen Project | Incitec Pivot | Electrolysis | QLD |
| Western Sydney Green Gas Project | “Jemena Origin Coregas” | Electrolysis | NSW |
| Port Kembla Hydrogen Hub | Jemena | Steam Methane Reforming | NSW |
| Moomba Hydrogen Project | Santos | Steam Methane Reforming | SA |
Source: Clean Energy Regulator