Low carbon technology
For the world to meet the Paris goals, a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy is required
Technology will play an important role and ensure a just transition in changing the way we produce and use energy.
The Australian government’s Technology Investment Roadmap identifies the important role technology plays on the path to reducing emissions and achieving a low carbon energy sector – while at the same time supporting economic growth which aligns with bp’s ambition.
bp identifies three key developments which will achieve this:
- Expanding renewables – solar, wind and bioenergy
- Low carbon technology – CCUS and blue hydrogen
- New and emerging energy – green hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels and waste to energy
We are providing solar power to Australians through our partnership with Lightsource bp, a market leader in the funding, development and operation of solar projects that generate renewable energy locally and sustainably.
Lightsource bp is currently providing renewable energy to Snowy Hydro, a government owned entity which owns, operates and maintains the 4.1GW Snowy Mountains hydro scheme, and it has secured planning approval for upscaling plans for the Wellington North solar project in NSW.
The site is adjacent to Lightsource bp’s near-complete Wellington solar farm and once operational, the 600MWdc hub could become the state’s largest renewable energy power hub, producing enough renewable electricity to power 170,000 Australian homes – saving 938,000 carbon emissions annually.
This is just the beginning. Lightsource bp has another eight large scale projects across NSW and QLD in the pipeline.
Take a closer look at carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) and why it is one of the technologies crucial to reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Our former Kwinana refinery, in the Kwinana industrial area south of Perth, Western Australia, is being repurposed as an integrated energy hub. The Kwinana energy hub will help progress bp’s contribution to the creation of domestic green value chains and the decarbonisation of Australia’s hard-to-abate sectors, particularly heavy industry, mining and transport.
Partnering with Macquarie and using a grant of up to $70M from the Australian government, our plans include installation of an electrolyser of at least 75 MW, hydrogen storage, compression and truck loading facilities, and upgrades to our existing on-site hydrogen pipeline. The hydrogen produced will support domestic and export demand including hydrogen supply for onsite renewable fuels production, ammonia, metals and minerals processing, on-site gas blending and hydrogen for heavy duty transport.
There are also plans to develop a renewable fuels plant on site, repurposing some of our former refining units, which will produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel. All of our exciting energy plans will integrate with our terminal operations and optimize use of our onsite storage and infrastructure.
