Plans for a $750 million green hydrogen facility at the Port Pirie smelter have been shelved, the state government says.
A South Australian government spokesperson said the Trafigura green hydrogen project, which was announced by the state’s former Liberal government in 2021, “never substantially proceeded beyond that phase and has never been part of the Malinauskas Labor Government’s hydrogen plans”.
The spokesperson said the initial announcement suggested the $750 million hydrogen project would be “integrated with the Nyrstar Port Pirie smelter” which global commodities company Trafigura owns.
“We are advised work has not progressed on this plan for some years, and it never proceeded beyond feasibility,”
the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the state government and Trafigura had each committed $2.5 million for the front end engineering design in 2021 to “accelerate the investment and jobs boom the project will deliver to Port Pirie”.
The plans for the green hydrogen plant were first announced in 2021. (Supplied: Come See Change)
Trafigura has been contacted for comment.
The cancellation of the Port Pirie plant follows reports last month that the state government’s plans to build a major hydrogen electrolyser and power plant near Whyalla have been “deferred”.
At the time, it was revealed money meant for the project — which was one of Labor’s major election promises — was instead allocated to saving the Whyalla steelworks, which has been placed into administration.
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