MELBOURNE, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX has signed a preliminary deal to supply green hydrogen to U.S.-based Universal Hydrogen for use in the aviation industry, it said on Wednesday, as Fortescue’s chairman flagged more deals to come.
As part of the agreement, Fortescue will study the possibility of setting up hydrogen production and logistics hubs in Iceland and New Zealand, as well as Australia’s Queensland state, the miner’s green unit, Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), said in a statement.
Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water molecules with renewable electricity and is seen as a way for industries such as steel and aviation to decarbonise.
Andrew Forrest, Australia’s richest man, is pushing to turn Fortescue into the world’s biggest green energy group, although critics have said his projects lack funding detail and the targets are a stretch.
Universal Hydrogen, one of a cluster of companies looking to decarbonise aviation, aims to speed up the introduction of hydrogen for smaller regional airplanes by using fuel cells fed by modular hydrogen capsules to replace their turboprop systems.
It has said it is planning preliminary hydrogen deals with mostly regional airlines including Icelandair.
Forrest on Tuesday said Fortescue Future Industries was on the cusp of announcing a string of new hydrogen deals to major industrial companies, after it agreed to become the United Kingdom’s biggest supplier.
The company last week signed a preliminary deal with UK construction firm JC Bamford Excavators (JCB) and logistics group Ryze Hydrogen to buy 10% of its green hydrogen production, which it expects to hit 15 million tonnes a year by 2030.
“The JCB agreement broke the dam of green hydrogen skepticism … and with that has come enquiries from all over the world,” Forrest told investors.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Richard Pullin)
(([email protected] Twitter: @MelanieMetals; +613 9286 1421; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
www.nasdaq.com