Worley (North Sydney, Australia) has been awarded front end engineering design (FEED) work for ABEL Energy’s flagship green hydrogen and methanol project at Bell Bay in Northern Tasmania.
Under the agreement, Worley will design and engineer the facility, while also providing procurement and construction services through to final investment decision (FID). The company will also work with local Tasmanian engineering company, pitt&sherry, to tailor the delivery approach to the unique considerations of the region.
The Bell Bay project will use 240 MW of renewable energy for water electrolysis, to produce green (renewable) hydrogen. This hydrogen will then be combined with carbon from a biomass source to produce green methanol.
As a transport fuel, green methanol can help to reduce the carbon intensity of the shipping industry. Most of the green methanol produced by the Bell Bay facility will be consumed by shipping companies, which will help avoid over 540,000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared with crude oil-based marine fuels.
The expected run time for the FEED stage of the project is 12 months. The facility is scheduled to commence production by 2028.
“We are very pleased to have appointed Worley and pitt&sherry to deliver the front-end engineering design for our flagship project. We already have a strong and collaborative working relationship and we have every confidence that together we will deliver an exceptional project,” said Rhys Tucker, Energy Chief Technology Officer at ABEL Energy.
“With a history of delivering in Bell Bay for almost 30 years, leading this next critical phase of ABEL Energy’s Bell Bay Powerfuels Project is a great example of building on our past to help deliver a lower carbon future. We look forward to applying our global expertise across the entire green methanol value chain to support this flagship project,” said Mark Accadia, Location Director for Australia East, PNG and Mongolia.