Province Resources (ASX:PRL) kicks off HyEnergy approvals for Western Australia

Province Resources is confident in its progress towards developing HyEnergy® green hydrogen development near Carnarvon.

The project has been referred to Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for environmental approval.

In November, The company secured licenses for an 8 GW green hydrogen project in Western Australia.

The licenses, covering over 600,000 hectares of land and 864 hectares of the seabed near Carnarvon, aim to produce 550,000 tons of green hydrogen per annum, with the first stage consisting of 4-5 GW of solar and wind for its electrolyzers.

Plans include exploring the options of either a traditional loading jetty port or an undersea pipeline.

The referral under Section 38 of the Environmental Protection Act will allow the regulator to begin examining potential environmental impacts of the project. The referral covers both the initial-phase and full-phase developments and is supported by three years of environmental studies done by the company.

The smaller-scale development would be located on the Town Common north of Carnarvon, while the larger-scale development would incorporate up to six pastoral stations in the region.

The referral allows the EPA to assess the project while the company continues with more detailed technical studies and progressing with other government approvals.

The referral process has been reformed by the Western Australian Government to ensure that the environmental assessment would not “stop the clock” on other government decisions, which had previously been the case.

David Frances, CEO of the Province, stated that the EPA referral is important to ensure timely project approvals, given the sound environmental work already done.

“The environmental work we have already undertaken across the project area provides a sound platform to begin our approval processes,” Mr Frances said.

“We are pleased the government has acted to ensure environmental approvals can be considered without delaying other government decision-making processes.”