Located within the Sun Metals Green Industrial Precinct in Townsville, Australia, SunHQ will be one of the largest fully integrated, green hydrogen production and refuelling facilities in the country. The facility will have a production capacity of 155 tonnes of green hydrogen per annum, approximately 90 tonnes of which will be used to power five 140 tonne-rated Hyzon Motors fuel cell electric trucks (FCET). These FCETs are expected to be the largest of their kind in the world.
Ark Energy will own the FCETs and lease them to its sister company, Townsville Logistics, which will incorporate them into its short-haul fleet operating as road trains to transport zinc concentrate from the Port of Townsville to the Sun Metals Zinc Refinery and the finished zinc ingots from the refinery to the port. The zero-emission trucks will replace their diesel equivalents and avoid 1,300 tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year.
The production and testing of green hydrogen from SunHQ are expected to commence by the end of Q1 2024, with the first FCET expected to be delivered by the end of Q2 2024.
Daniel Kim, CEO of Ark Energy, commented: “We’re excited about the catalytic potential of SunHQ to build the domestic hydrogen economy of North Queensland and bring forward the decarbonisation of Australia’s ultra-heavy transport sector by several years. We have deliberately oversized the capacity of SunHQ to ensure there is surplus green hydrogen to support other major industrial customers achieve their emissions reductions targets.”
