Australian authorities have approved an application brought by Pilot Energy Limited to declare a Greenhouse Gas Storage Formation. To be called the Cliff Head Storage Formation, the facility will be sited off the coast of Western Australia and will have a storage capacity of 13.4/million tonnes of CO_2.

The approval is the first step in the development of Pilot’s Mid West Clean Energy Project (MWCEP) and Pilot’s management are calling it a “material advancement and a significant step towards accelerating Australia’s progress to a net zero future.”

According to Pilot’s website, MWCEP is a clean ammonia export project aiming to produce up to 1.2 million tonnes per annum of clean ammonia starting in 2027 with a cost base that is competitive with existing conventional grey ammonia production.

The project includes sub-projects such as carbon management for third parties, permanent storage of the project’s own CO_2, and the production of clean ammonia from blue and green hydrogen.

Steps post approval involve traditional owner and stakeholder engagement, CO₂ storage project front-end engineering and design (FEED), and the final selection of hydrogen and ammonia technology partners. In parallel, the MWCEP team will continue to engage with regulators to progress the remaining project approvals. These include an injection licence and Federal and State environmental approvals.