Balangarra’s Cissy Gore-Birch talks about a new energy partnership between three Traditional Owner groups as an opportunity to showcase working together on a shared project and having that agreement to be able to look at the bigger outcomes.
"The things that we’re thinking about is really bettering the lives of our people who really haven’t benefited in the past through these big projects around Australia.”
Cissy is talking about the $3 billion solar and green hydrogen project proposed for the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, based on partnership between three traditional owner groups, the Balanggarra people through the Balanggarra Ventures Corporation (a subsidiary of Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC), the Yawoorroong Miriuwung Gajerrong Yirrgeb Noong Dawang Aboriginal Corporation (MG Corporation), and Kimberley Land Council, with clean energy investor Pollination.
The three First Nations groups will each have an initial 25% share in the new company they've formed - Aboriginal Clean Energy, with Pollination also having a 25% share.
The East Kimberley Clean Energy project will see a ~ 2,000-hectare solar farm developed on MG Corporation freehold land near Kununurra. The resulting solar energy (approximately 1,000 megawatts) will be combined with water and hydro energy from the existing Ord Hydro Power Plant at Lake Argyle to produce green hydrogen. The green hydrogen will be transported by pipeline to Balanggarra Country in Wyndham where it will be converted to green ammonia. The green ammonia will be sold locally as a fertiliser for irrigated agriculture, and will also be exported.