Early Community Engagement with Hydrogen in Australia

Community support and acceptance is part of the licence to operate for any industry. The hydrogen industry is no different and we will need to have strong support from the broad community to establish a viable hydrogen economy in Australia.
As Woodside progresses our plans for bulk hydrogen export and associated domestic opportunities, stakeholder engagement throughout will be critical to success. This talk will share Woodside’s approach to community engagement and local opportunities, and how we plan to draw on more than 30 years’ experience operating liquefied natural gas plants in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
At this early stage of our hydrogen work, we are beginning with the end in mind: engaging the customer. We’ve worked with local Australian businesses to help raise public awareness and interest in hydrogen by producing prototype consumer products. We will share experiences from this work that underscore the value of early engagement with all stakeholders: government, regulators, industrial and community neighbours and end consumers to enable the hydrogen economy vision for Australia. This paper will present information on community engagement and acceptance of hydrogen in Australia.
This information has come from Woodside Energy Ltd by engaging with small businesses, government regulators and the community at large. As we establish community acceptance for hydrogen as an energy carrier in Australia Woodside has been working in parallel to have standards and regulations established for hydrogen in Australia. Through our work with Hydrogen Mobility Australia we are advocating the adoption of ISO standards unless there is a specific geographic or health, safety and environment reason not to.