Media Release: Clayton Utz congratulates participants in landmark HESC project on world-first export of liquefied hydrogen

Melbourne, 28 January 2022: The first shipment today of liquefied hydrogen from Australia to Japan is a significant milestone for both countries and for the participants in the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project, on which Clayton Utz has acted as Australian counsel since 2013.

The Suiso Frontier, the world's first liquefied hydrogen cargo vessel, departed the port of Westernport in Hastings, Victoria, for Japan, today - marking the first major success of the HESC pilot project, developed to create a supply chain for low-emissions hydrogen.

Under the HESC project, a pilot plant was built to produce liquefied hydrogen from coal from the Loy Yang mine in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.  Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd's (KHI) wholly-owned subsidiary Hydrogen Engineering Australia (HEA) is co-ordinating the project.  Other consortium members include J-Power, Iwatani Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and AGL. 

Through HEA and KHI, a Clayton Utz team led by partners Hiroyuki Kano, Steve O'Reilly and Andrew Leece has assisted industry participants on all legal aspects of the project to date, including implementation of the pilot project.

Hiroyuki Kano, who attended a livestreamed ceremony to mark the project's export milestone, said it was exciting to see the HESC project progress to export hydrogen produced and liquefied in Australia to Japan.

We congratulate all the parties involved on this significant first step in creating a hydrogen export market. As more countries face challenges in how they adapt to a new global energy future, and with liquefied hydrogen's potential as a low-carbon energy source, projects such as HESC will help them rise to meet these challenges.