Big hydrogen-producing complex at Whyalla, South Australia, on hold in 2025 as funds go to rescuing steelworks

A concept of GE Vernova's LM6000VELOX gas turbine. Four of the turbines had been bought for the proposed world's-biggest hydrogen complex (see inset) at Whyalla, deferred by the South Australia government, with funds diverted to the rescue package for the Whyalla steelworks in 2025.
Images courtesy GE Vernova (via InDaily, Adelaide) and South Australia government

Four state-of-the-art gas turbines bought by the South Australia government as part of ambitious hydrogen  energy complex energy plans were to be onsold after the government deferred its funding towards the Whyalla steelworks rescue package in 2025.

Government energy and mining minister Tom Koutsantonis told the South Australia parliament the turbines would be onsold “for the original purchase price or higher – with the guarantee they will be installed in South Australia to provide additional generation capacity”.

The government secured an agreement in November 2024 with ATCO Australia to contract GE Vernova to supply a first-of-its-kind aeroderivative gas turbine solution, capable of running on hydrogen fuel. The four turbines would have operated at the Whyalla hydrogen power plant. Hydrogen fuel would have powered the LM6000VELOX turbines to provide power to the state’s electricity grid. The agreement for the turbines was signed at COP29 in Azerbaijan. If installed as part of the government’s since-shelved $600 million hydrogen complex plans, it would have been the first time a GE Vernova power plant project had been powered by aeroderivative gas turbine combustion capable of operating on 100% hydrogen.

Koutsantonis said the government remained committed to a hydrogen industry in Australia: “The world wants green iron and steel, and hydrogen will play an important part in that transition. But South Australia can only manufacture green steel with a strong, sustainable Whyalla steelworks. This must be our priority.”

The minister said the Office of Hydrogen Power SA would continue to operate, with a focus on exploring and enabling investment opportunities for a hydrogen industry in South Australia.” The office had achieved significant work, including procuring the hydrogen-capable gas turbines.

Sam Crafter, son of former John Bannon Labor South Australian government minister Greg Crafter, was appointed in 2022 as chief executive the Office of Hydrogen Power. A former Labor staffer himself in the Jay Weatherill government, Crafter’s previous energy industry roles included chief development officer with South Australian hydrogen company H2U and seven years with oil and gas giant Santos in Adelaide and at its Gladstone, Queensland, liquified natural gas hub.

Crafter’s biggest initial task was to oversee the design, constructing and commissioning of the $600 million state-owned hydrogen power plant at Port Bonython near Whyalla, a key plank of the government’s Hydrogen Jobs Plan. The project was to include a 250MWe hydrogen electrolyser, a 200MW combined cycle gas turbine generator mainly fuelled by hydrogen and 3600-tonne hydrogen storage – or the equivalent of two months of hydrogen power generation – making it one of the world’s biggest hydrogen power plants.