Australia’s Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, said that the government is expected to invest $18 billion through new investments in low emission technologies over the next ten years to reduce carbon emissions. Australia wants to drive in at least $50 billion of overall new investment over the next decade.

The minister also released the government’s first Low Emission Technology Statement intending to make new technologies as affordable as existing technologies with a focus to reduce emissions and create more jobs.

The new plan requires reducing the production rate of hydrogen less than $2/kilogram, lower the cost of a long duration battery storage system under $100/MWh to provide a reliable supply of low-cost sustainable energy. The plan also seeks to reduce the price of soil carbon measurement under $3/hectare per year and to decrease the cost of carbon capture storage under $20/ton.

In addition, it also seeks to cut the production cost of low emission aluminum under $900/ton and for low emission steel to less than $2,700/ton.

According to the statement, the government will establish a Technology Investment Framework to set its investment preference in new technologies. The government will invest around $1.9 billion in a new energy technology package. The government will also complete its Long Term Emission Reduction Strategy before the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). It will also set up Australia’s first regional hydrogen export hub.

“The Government’s plan has three key focuses – lower emissions, lower costs, and more jobs. Getting the technologies of the future right will support 130,000 jobs by 2030 and avoid in the order of 250 tonnes of emissions in Australia by 2040,” said Angus Taylor, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction.

Recently, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency received a funding package worth $1.62 billion from the government to enhance the utilization of low emission technologies to cut emissions across the chain.

Mercom earlier reported that Western Australia’s Oakajee Strategic Industrial Area invited expressions of interest from corporations and businesses worldwide to produce renewable hydrogen. The Oakajee SIA is a designated, greenfield strategic industrial area, located 435 km north of Western Australia’s capital city of Perth. The notice focuses on the domestic production and use of renewable hydrogen, including for industrial processes and products derived from renewable hydrogen.