The world’s largest hydrogen export pilot program has reached a significant milestone with the arrival of the first purpose-built liquefied hydrogen carrier, the Suiso Frontier, in the Port of Hastings.

Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas was joined today by Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) Project partners to welcome the 116-metre vessel.

Arriving from Kobe, Japan, the Suiso Frontier is a key component of the HESC Project as it will carry liquefied hydrogen produced in the Latrobe Valley back to Japan.

In early 2021, the HESC Project began successfully producing liquefied hydrogen from Latrobe Valley coal. This makes the HESC the most advanced and scalable hydrogen project in Australia and the first project in the world to extract, liquefy and transport liquid hydrogen by sea to an international market.

Scheduled to be completed in March 2022, the pilot has created 400 Victorian jobs and assisted in establishing local skills, capabilities and infrastructure that will provide a platform for the development of a broad hydrogen industry in Victoria and Australia.

Over the next two years, the project partners will undertake extensive research and development to determine the technical and operational requirements for a commercial-scale project. In a commercial phase, HESC would create 30,000 full-time jobs across the Gippsland and Mornington Peninsula regions over the life of the project.

Weighing 8,000 tonnes, the Suiso Frontier has a 1,250 cubic metre capacity, vacuum-insulated double-walled storage tank to safely and efficiently transport the liquefied hydrogen.

The HESC Project is delivered by a consortium of top energy and infrastructure companies from Australia and Japan – including Kawasaki Heavy Industries, J-Power, Iwatani Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, and AGL – with the support of the Victorian, Commonwealth and Japanese governments.