December 05, 2025 [Renewables Now]- Port of Newcastle has completed front-end engineering design (FEED) studies for its Clean Energy Precinct, which it describes as Australia’s most advanced hydrogen export project.

“We are moving through EIS, the environmental approvals early next year. The development application planning is currently underway. So we hope to have that secured next year and then be out to tender with production due to start 2029, 2030,” Port of Newcastle’s senior manager, Sheena Martin, said at the World Hydrogen Expo (H2 MEET) in South Korea.

At full scale, the project is designed to use 1.5 GW of renewable energy and 22 million litres of recycled water per day to produce 480 tonnes of hydrogen and 2,700 tonnes of ammonia per day.

The Clean Energy Precinct (CEP) has secured AUD 100 million (USD 65.9m/EUR 56.5m) in federal funding, administered by the New South Wales government, with the port co-contributing AUD 9.4 million for planning and environmental approvals. The project aims to leverage the port’s scale and underutilised capacity — its channel reportedly operates at only around 50% — to establish a new clean-energy hub producing and exporting green ammonia, among other emerging fuels.

The concept designs are currently in the approval phase and the port hopes to have that secured by mid-next year.

Newcastle’s advancement comes as Australia grapples with slow movement across its green hydrogen pipeline, Rystad Energy senior analyst Nigel Rambhujun said during a presentation at the H2 MEET. The country ranks first globally by total announced project capacity, but more than 10 million tonnes per year of green hydrogen remains at the planning or concept stage, with 4.2 million tonnes’ worth of projects already inactive. When looking only at projects that have reached final investment decision or entered construction, Australia “is not doing well” and “needs a lot more investment” to convert concepts into real-world projects, he said.