It's a good day to be an ASX hydrogen shareholder after the New South Wales Government announced its brand new $3 billion green hydrogen strategy.
The state government will be offering incentives for company's producing green hydrogen in New South Wales. It expects the incentives will see more than $80 billion of private investment brought into the state.
'Green' hydrogen is made using renewable energy and, as a result, is an almost entirely carbon-neutral fuel source.
The NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet, stood alongside the NSW Treasurer and Energy Minister, Matt Kean, and the chair of Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) and Fortescue Future Industries, Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, to launch the strategy this morning.
At the same time, the share prices of many ASX hydrogen companies were soaring higher.
Right now, the Hazer Group Ltd (ASX: HZR) share price is rocketing 16% higher. Meanwhile, shares in Pure Hydrogen Corporation CDI (ASX: PH2) are up 6%. The Province Resources Ltd (ASX: PRL) share price is also in the green, sporting a 3% gain.
However, the Fortescue Metals share price is sliding lower on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the parent company of Fortescue Future Industries is $14.48, 2.1% lower than its previous close.
Let's take a closer look at the NSW Government's new hydrogen strategy.
ASX hydrogen shares gain amid NSW hydrogen strategy announcement
Many ASX hydrogen shares are soaring higher amid the NSW Government's plan for a future hydrogen industry.
The NSW Government has today announced it will offer up to $3 billion of incentives for companies looking to produce green hydrogen in the state. According to reporting by ABC News, some of the incentives will come as tax breaks.
NSW Treasurer and Energy Minister Matt Kean spoke at the media conference announcing the strategy:
This announcement will see between $80 billion and $270 billion worth of private investment coming into New South Wales between now and 2050…
The size of the hydrogen industry here in New South Wales will be as big as the coal industry in New South Wales by 2050.
Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, chair of both iron ore giant Fortescue Metals and renewable energy body Fortescue Future Industries, also spoke on the nation's potential future energy source:
There will be no bigger industry than green hydrogen. It will dwarf the scale of iron ore. It will dwarf the scale of coal…
You have a fossil fuel sector which is in decline… [but] you have a green energy future which can make steel, can make fertilisers, can make cement, can make ships be powered.
The NSW Government has already put $70 million towards developing green hydrogen hubs in the Hunter Valley and Illawarra.
Earlier this week, Fortescue Future Industries partnered with the Queensland Government to build a hydrogen-equipment manufacturing facility in Gladstone.
Fortescue Future Industries is also involved in a number of hydrogen projects, and other renewable energy production projects, over the globe.
