The Economic Fairways Mapper, developed as part of the Federal Government’s Exploring for the Future program, will be expanded to include green hydrogen, iron and steel.
The map identifies potential investment hurdles, technical challenges and knowledge gaps in regional areas, and will now focus on the availability of renewable energy and will help users evaluate how energy performance will influence costs.
It can also provide insight into the economics of building a green steel industry in different regions of Australia.
Federal Minister for Resources Madeleine King called the map a remarkable piece of technology to help the resources sector understand the renewable energy potential of different regions.
“The Economic Fairways Mapper is another way the Federal Government is forging ahead on the road to net-zero,” King said. “Tools like these are vital to attracting much-needed investment, particularly in regional areas.”
The map was created by Monash University and Geoscience Australia, and has won the Australian Museum’s Eureka Prize for Innovative Research in Sustainability.
Deputy Director of Resources Engineering at Monash University Stuart Walsh said that the real benefit of the mapp was its ability to provide regional assessments of the economic potential for new green iron and steel projects.
“Using these methods in place of conventional iron and steel production has the potential to eliminate significant amounts of global greenhouse gas emissions,” Walsh said.
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