BOOLATHANA PROJECT
The Gascoyne Green Energy Boolathana project will be a renewable energy hub, built in stages on Boolathana Station.
GGE will conduct studies to assess the feasibility of the prospective GGE Boolathana project in accordance with conditions set out in the Section 91 Licence that has been granted by the Department of Lands, Planning and Heritage.
The Project aligns with the State Government initiative to support the development of large-scale renewable hydrogen projects in regional Western Australia to reduce the State’s carbon footprint and its commitment to achieve new-zero.
Similarly, the Project has the potential to provide economic prosperity, jobs, opportunities for Aboriginal people who have Native Title rights to the land and to pastoralists with commercial interests throughout the lifecycle of the project.
GGE Boolathana Project Location Map
What's in a name ...
According to the publication, Language Lives in the Aboriginal Place Names of the Gascoyne, the name Boolathana may mean treeless.
Pulaya (pronounced boolaya) means land in Yinggardaand thanma means hard or strong – hard land grows no trees.Thana means they recorded in the Bayungu Dictionary compiled Peter Austin with assistance of the Baiyungu people the 1980’s.
Perhaps, they – the Yinggarda and Baiyungu people have provided the name Boolathana – ‘strong land that is treeless’ which has been kept in use since the days of the early settlers.
GGE Boolathana Concept Plan
Stage 1
Stage 1 will comprise of upstream turbines and infill solar arrays with an initial combined maximum generation capacity of 1-4GW.
Upstream solar and wind energy will be used to power downstream processing facilities to produce commodities such as green hydrogen, green ammonia and fertiliser.
Due to the size of Boolathana, the proposed hub’s capacity can be scaled up to correspond with environmental, social and engineering investigations and approval processes. The Project will also be appropriately scaled to match the receival capacity of GGE
Boolathana’s intended offtake partners. At full capacity the GGE Boolathana Project may reach more than 10GW.
The infrastructure required for the proposed renewables hub on Boolathana includes:
- hydrogen plant
- carrier plant (ammonia)
- desalination plant
- Marine Offloading Facility (MOF)
- Port alternatives, such as a CALM buoy.
GGE Boolathana Infrastructure
CALM Buoy
Traditionally, the Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM buoy) system has been used to assist tankers loading or discharging various forms of crude oil from floating storage in deep water.
GGE will ascertain whether the system is suitable for loading green ammonia.
A Single Buoy Mooring, the CALM Buoy is anchored to the seabed by catenary chain legs which are secured to anchors or piles.
The system allows tankers to moor securely in open waters offshore. After which the free ends of floating hoses connected to the buoy are connected to the tanker and product is pumped through the hoses, buoy, subsea risers, manifolds and subsea pipeline.
The CALM Buoy works from either onshore storage to tankers – the application that would be required by the GGE Boolathana project to allow the export of green ammonia, or from tankers to onshore storage in import facilities, such as those found in Singapore, Japan or South Korea.
Green Ammonia
The production of green ammonia uses green hydrogen produced by water electrolyis – the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity.
Nitrogen is obtained directly from the air using a separation unit.
Green ammonia is produced using the Haber Bosch process, powered by electricity harvested from renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
Coastal Access
The proposed renewable energy hub and associated infrastructure will be strategically located to take full advantage of Boolathana’s 23km of coastal frontage.
The capital cost required to transport green energy to an export departure point is minimised as a direct result and will enable GGE to determine the most economical method of parcelling and loading green energy commodities.
Access to deep water (20m) is available from Bejaling Shoals, adjacent to Bejaling Hill on Boolathana.
The location was scoped by the Gascoyne Development Commission as a suitable site for a deep water port. and for domestic offtake, in 2010, confirmed in 2023.
Greening Gas
GGE has identified that there is no difference in terms of distance between the Gascoyne or the gas fields who currently fuel the energy intensive Ore Processing Facilities in the Pilbara.
We envisage the proximity of the Dampier Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline to Boolathana’s operations may provide an attractive energy transition option for industry in the Pilbara and for energy consumers in the South.
Currently, the Gascoyne has good supply/demand access to the DPNGP and branches and there is opportunity for GGE to utilise existing right of way approvals.
There is real potential for energy in the form of molecules to be piped from the Gascoyne Green Energy hub via the DBNGP from the areas along the pipeline for electricity generation, chemical feedback or heat which will form part of GGE’s scoping studies of the Boolathana opportunity.
