Australia will invest in a electrolyser factory to help power the expected boom in green hydrogen demand for the future.

Queensland will host the electrolyser factory – a JV between Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries and US manufacturer Plug Power.

The plant would be Plug Power’s third renewables gigafactory.

The factory will produce solar panels, wind turbines and other high-end manufacturing for the sector.

$115 million manufacturing facility set to be built in Aldoga near Gladstone, Queensland.

“We need solar panels, wind towers, and electrolysers in such scale that we need to produce them where we use them – including in Australia,” FFI chief executive Julie Shuttleworth said in a joint statement issued overnight.

“We have enough solar and wind in Australia to power many countries of the world. Working together with Plug Power, we can create this future,” FFI said.

The factory will be the first of many, Andrew Forrest, Fortescue Metals Chairman said.

“We are taking the Green Energy Manufacturing centre at Gladstone and replicating it across Australia, at tens of sites all over the country – creating the foundation for new industries in green ammonia, green iron, green steel, green fertiliser and green cement, with thousands of jobs at each location.”

Andrew Forrest – ABC Radion National interview.