A Hunter valley sawmill has plans to convert its waste into green hydrogen in a move to improve its environmental footprint.
Sweetman Sawmill at Millfield near Cessnock is seeking to partner with other sawmills to produce enough biomass to supply the Redbank Power Station in the Hunter, when it ceases coal fired operations.
It's hoped once operational the biomass can be used for both export to bioenergy plants in Japan, local renewable energy energy consumption and for the production of syngas, green hydrogen and biochar.
Sweetman Renewables Chairman John Halkett says the company is committed to sustainability.
"Certainly there is a substantial need in Australia to shift towards renewable sources of energy.
"Biomass has the potential because it is baseload power, for example, the Redbank Power Station will produce 155 megawatts of baseload dispatchable power which is reasonably significant in the scheme of things.
"Our operation would mean a substantial reduction in carbon emissions which is in line with our mission to abate climate change and our focus on renewable energy production," Mr Halkett said
With the closure of the Liddell Power Station on the horizon, Mr Halkett says he hopes the project can pick up some of the slack it will leave behind.
"You've got a power station like Liddell which is very important in Australia's energy requirements due to close in a couple of years and what we are trying to do through the Sweetman operation is to produce a sustainable product, from sustainably managed forests which are certified," Mr Halkett said.
