Hazer Group signs MOU with Chubu Electric and Chiyoda

Australian company Hazer Group has announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Japanese companies Chubu Electric and Chiyoda Corporation, to jointly prepare a Project Development Plan (PDP) for a Hazer production facility in the Chubu region in Japan. This MOU is an outcome of a longstanding strategic collaboration between Chiyoda Corporation and Hazer since January 2020.

Under the MOU, Hazer, Chubu Electric and Chiyoda have agreed to work collaboratively to prepare the Project Development Plan for a clean hydrogen and graphitic carbon production hub based on Hazer’s proprietary technology. Chubu Electric Power plans to use the produced hydrogen as a fuel for power generation and other hard-to-abate industries, as well as mobility, in the Nagoya area.

The project’s planned production facility will have a target ultimate hydrogen production capacity of between 50,000 and 100,000 tonnes per annum, planned to be achieved in stages. The initial hydrogen production capacity is currently anticipated to be between 2500 and 10,000 tonnes per annum.

The parties have agreed to complete the PDP during the first half of 2024, and will concurrently develop the relevant Definitive Partnership Agreements to advance the project with commitment, targeting the initial start-up of the facility in the late 2020s.

Hazer, Chubu Electric and Chiyoda will form a Project Group for the development and implementation of the project. The Project Group is considering graphite offtake opportunities.

“Chubu Electric Power Group is firmly committed to decarbonisation of its operations and that of our customers,” said Kouji Sada, General Manager of Electric Power Research and Development Center of Chubu Electric. “We believe the Hazer technology offers an attractive solution to locally produce low carbon hydrogen, using our existing supply chains and infrastructure.”

Norimasa Matsuoka, Senior Vice President, Frontier Business Division of Chiyoda, said: “Chiyoda has been closely collaborating with Hazer for some time. We believe Hazer’s innovative technology has strong alignment with the Japanese market and we are delighted to be working together with Chubu Electric and Hazer, bringing our engineering and project expertise to bear on this exciting project for early social implementation towards a carbon-free society.”

“Hazer has always viewed Japan as an important and strategic market for the deployment of our unique technology,” said Glenn Corrie, Chief Executive Officer of Hazer Group. “By integrating our technology into the existing energy value chain, we can contribute to the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors such as power generation, heavy industry and mobility. We feel privileged to be working with world-class and strategically aligned partners in Chubu Electric and Chiyoda, both of which have been leaders in their fields and have a demonstrated vision to decarbonise society. This partnership complements our already established partnership with Mitsui relating to our graphite offtake and is further validation of the Hazer technology business plan.”

The Japanese Government on 4 April 2023 announced its plans to increase its hydrogen supply target to 12 million tonnes per annum by 2040, or a sixfold increase of the current target of 2 million tonnes per annum. This is in addition to the already existing use of hydrogen in industrial sectors. In addition to Japan, Hazer sees other geographies in the Asia–Pacific region, such as Singapore and Korea, as key strategic markets for the deployment of its technology.

Hazer Group Limited is a technology development company undertaking the commercialisation of the Hazer Process, a low-emission hydrogen and graphitic carbon production process. The Hazer Process enables the effective conversion of natural gas and similar methane feedstocks, into hydrogen and advanced carbon materials, using iron ore as a process catalyst. In February, Hazer Group also announced it achieved a key milestone under an Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Funding Agreement.