The Hydrogen and Renewable Energy (HRE) Act came into operation on 11 July 2024.
By providing a “one window to government” regulation and licensing framework that has been developed through intensive engagement, this Act will help South Australia to support the world in its global clean energy transition and meet our own net zero goals.
The Hydrogen and Renewable Energy (HRE) Act is available on the South Australian legislation website.
The HRE Act
The HRE Act will regulate and licence large-scale hydrogen and renewable energy projects across South Australia.
The Act ensures a fair and transparent pathway for companies that want to develop hydrogen or renewable energy projects in South Australia. It ensures best practice licensing and regulatory approaches.
Companies must comply with strict technical, environmental and consultation regulations to receive a licence.
Why a HRE Act is needed
South Australia has a unique combination of sun, wind, and minerals to support the global transition to green energy. To capitalise on this advantage, we must ensure that South Australia can attract investment from key industry partners for the development of critical projects and related infrastructure in a timely and orderly manner.
The HRE Act supports South Australia's green energy transformation. Note: this video was produced in 2021 and some data may have changed. South Australia's target is now to achieve 100% renewables by 2027.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the state and the government is committed to realising our future prosperity in a transparent, orderly and inclusive manner.
The HRE Act ensures the expectations and requirements of all stakeholders are accounted for and transparently addressed.
What is the next phase
Now that the HRE Act is operational, the next phase will be for the government to identify areas of the state that would be suitable for large scale renewable energy developments, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders and community.
These areas will be released through a competitive tender process to attract early investment into South Australia’s green energy transition.
This website will continue to be updated as these processes progress.
Benefits for all South Australians
The HRE Act will enable a net benefit for all South Australians by:
- Encouraging South Australia’s economic diversity and prosperity with a framework that supports different land use activities to occur on the same land where possible.
- Ensuring development benefits local communities through partnerships, local employment, local business opportunities, decarbonisation of other economic sectors and energy security.
- Ensuring access to the state’s resources is granted only to those proponents willing to embrace coexistence with current land uses and deliver community and environmental benefits through their projects, in line with leading environment, social and governance (ESG) requirements.
- Ensuring all such projects, particularly large-scale hydrogen production and storage, meet high standards of safety.
Proponents (applicants and licence holders) must demonstrate:
- their willingness to engage and negotiate with communities, native title parties and other landowners across the entire project lifecycle
- clear benefit sharing through social programs, support of local industry and employment, compensation or other economic benefits
- environmentally sustainable and safe development.
South Australia's State Prosperity project
Hydrogen and renewable energy is key to South Australia's State Prosperity Project, a series of investments that will generate billions of dollars of economic activity and create thousands of jobs.
Learn more about South Australia's State Prosperity Project
The Government of South Australia has committed more than half a billion dollars to the Hydrogen Jobs Plan to build a world leading renewable green hydrogen power plant, electrolyser and storage facility near Whyalla by early 2026.
Watch this video to learn more about green hydrogen production
More information
Do you have any questions about the HRE Act? You can get more details via the Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Act web pages on this website or contact us via email hre@sa.gov.au
Stay informed
These HRE Act web pages will provide all the details on the Act. You can also sign-up to ensure you don’t miss any future communications on the HRE Act, release areas and future developments.
