Hydrogen is currently considered the next ‘big thing’ in green energy and storage. However, while hydrogen can be made simply using water and renewable energy, it can also be made using fossil fuels. There are currently attempts by fossil fuel proponents, including the Federal government, to co-opt this green energy opportunity to provide a lifeline for ailing coal and gas. 

However, right now there is a chance to take action.

In Part 1 of our hydrogen blog series Energy Justice Victoria offered an explainer of the upcoming 'hydrogen economy'. We demystified hydrogen, why it presents a unique alternative to fossil fuels when done right, and why everybody seems to be talking about it.

If you missed out on reading the explainer, you can catch up here.

Today, we tackle the next issue on our list: What is the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (the HESC) and how does it relate to the fossil fuel industry in Victoria?

As the viability of traditional fossil fuels are being increasingly questioned in a warming world, state, federal and territory ministers are meeting on Friday the 22nd of November to discuss the future of energy policy in Australia, and alternative projects such as the billionaire-funded Sun Cable solar project are rapidly gaining traction. Amidst news proliferating on climate change, economics and renewable energy, the terms ‘hydrogen energy’ or ‘hydrogen economy’ are bandied about every which way, so you’d be forgiven for wondering: what is the hydrogen economy and why is it that everybody - including big fossil fuel companies - suddenly seems to be talking about it?

On Sunday the 3rd of November, members of Energy Justice Victoria (EJV) made the fourth and final stop of their Fossil Frontlines Community Tour, hosted in Traralgon by local Latrobe Valley youth group A New Power.

Traralgon is one of three population centres in the Gippsland region’s Latrobe Valley, lying between the Strzelecki and Baw Baw Ranges. The Valley is a major producer of Victoria’s energy. While the industry has traditionally relied on brown coal, initiatives like the Latrobe Valley Community Power Hub and Friends of the Earth affiliate Earthworker are spearheading alternative small-scale renewable energy projects.

On Sunday the 27th of October, members of Energy Justice Victoria (EJV) visited Westernport Bay for the third week of the Fossil Frontlines Community Tour. EJV co-hosted a community meeting with local groups Save Westernport and Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council in the vibrant Balnarring township. 

On Saturday the 19th of October, Energy Justice Victoria (EJV) members embarked on the second stop of the Fossil Frontlines Community Tour, hosted in Golden Beach by local group Ninety Mile Against Carbon Storage.

Golden Beach is a seaside town on Ninety Mile Beach between Loch Sport and Seaspray (where EJV launched the Community Tour on the 11th of October). Along the foreshore camping spots back onto dune paths leading to the white sand and blue ocean, home to endangered nesting plovers and a vibrant marine life.

On Saturday the 12th of October, members of Energy Justice Victoria (EJV) launched the Fossil Frontlines Community Tour with its first stop: a visit to Seaspray hosted by Gasfield Free Seaspray.

Seaspray is a small Victorian coastal town on the southern end of beautiful Ninety Mile Beach, around 32 kilometres south of Sale. A member of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Gasfield Free Seaspray was integral to the statewide campaign from 2011 to 2017 that gained the historic fracking ban from the VIC Labor government.

The Seaspray community, with so many others across the state, fought hard to see unconventional gas drilling (fracking) banned permanently for the benefit of water quality, tourism and farming in the area. The campaign also saw a temporary moratorium placed on onshore conventional gas exploration.

This moratorium will expire and be reassessed in June 2020.

(Photo credit to Stephen Issell)

Victorians know that we are facing a time of climate and ecological crisis. 

Winter has only just finished and we are already getting warnings of a horror bushfire season, with farming communities in the grip of severe drought.

But whilst Premier Andrews has taken commendable action on climate in the past, there is a huge hole in his government’s climate action. 

The announcement from ExxonMobil that it is planning to sell all its assets is enormous news for Gippsland.

The offshore oil and gas industry has been a creator of jobs and economic activity for decades and the sale will send shock waves through the region.

However, it is hard to imagine any company wanting to buy oil and gas fields that are clearly in steep decline.

Golden Beach is an idyllic section of Ninety Mile Beach. It boasts a pristine coastline, where whales can be seen from the sand in migrating season. The beaches have plentiful fish, native birds and the skeletal remains of an 1897 shipwreck.

But there is a cloud hanging over this lovely place.

A publicly funded State Government project, called CarbonNet, has earmarked the area for waste-carbon injection.