The world's largest zinc, lead and silver producer will start using electric trucks at its Townsville refinery in December 2022.
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When they roll out, they are expected to become the largest fuel cell electric trucks on the road in the world.
Sun Metals zinc refinery will use the five 140 tonne trucks to transport zinc concentrate and ingots between the Port of Townsville and the refinery.
The trucks will run on hydrogen and are being supplied by Hyzon Motors.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has conditionally approved $3.02 million in funding to Ark Energy H2 Pty Ltd to build a one megawatt electrolyser with storage and refuelling infrastructure.
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An electrolyser separates water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis to create hydrogen gas. It will be powered by a 124MW solar farm located at the refinery.
The refinery is Queensland's second largest single-site electricity user and the trucks are expected to avoid 1300 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Ark will lease the trucks to Townsville Logistics, which will operate them in road train triple trailer configuration and incorporate them into its short haul fleet.
The project is also supported by a $12.5m debt finance facility from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and has also been awarded $5m from the Queensland government's Hydrogen Industry Development Fund.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the deployment could offer up a valuable pathway towards achieving net zero emissions in the heavy transport and mining sectors.
"As Australia pushes towards net zero emissions, we must continue to find renewable and clean solutions for hard-to-abate sectors now so that alternatives to fossil fuels can be implemented as soon as possible," Mr Miller said.
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