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.
The Geraldton Export-Scale Renewable Investment, known as Project GERI, is a 100% bp owned, large-scale integrated renewables and green hydrogen project, targeting sales to domestic and international markets.
GERI will be a phased development bringing wind and solar together with electrolysis to produce up to 180 kilotons of renewable hydrogen per annum. GERI’s location is ideally suited for renewable energy production due to strong winds and long periods of sunlight throughout the year.
bp is transitioning its former refinery site (located within the Kwinana
Industrial Area) to an integrated energy hub. Subject to internal and
government approvals, the new hub plans to produce and supply fuel and energy products, including those that support our net zero ambitions. Our plans will build upon bp’s decades of refining experience at Kwinana and will help create local jobs.
Part of the transition includes furthering plans for a biorefinery to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel from vegetable oils, animal fats and other biowaste products.
Our plans for the biorefinery will look to make use of processing infrastructure
formerly used for hydrocarbon refining (like processing units, storage tanks,
pipelines and utilities) and build new equipment capable of producing up to
10kbd of renewable fuel daily.
