The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) has been touted as a $1 billion attempt to transport liquid hydrogen from Australia to Japan. However, Australia is wary of the project, meaning the HESC will source hydrogen from Japan to meet the 2030 deadline for the demonstration phase.
The Japanese government has committed 220 billion yen (now $1.4 billion) to HESC’s current “commercial demonstration” phase, which has a 2030 completion date.
However, in order to meet the deadline, the project will now purchase hydrogen in Japan. This has been blamed on the retreat of Australian officials concerned about the environmental benefits of the project.