If Australia gets it right, it won't just be a renewable energy superpower as the world shifts from the industrial age to the electric age.
"It will be an electro-state superhero," former chief scientist Alan Finkel has told an industry summit.
"Our superpowers will be renewable energy, decarbonised products and energy transition materials."
Wind and solar power generation has tripled over the past five years and more infrastructure must be built, along with new transmission lines and energy storage, for Australia to achieve an electricity grid dominated by renewables by 2030.
"Now, with a clear direction and heightened ambition from the new government, Australia will be a global leader in the energy transition," Dr Finkel said on Wednesday.
But the costs are high, and state and federal governments are increasingly concerned about delays and costs in Australia's electricity market, he said at the Clean Energy Council supply chain summit in Canberra.
This is resulting in more government intervention in investment decisions, which goes against the design of the national electricity market, but is the appropriate response during times of rapid change, he said.
As special adviser to the Albanese government on low emissions technology, Dr Finkel continues to be a champion for hydrogen and its derivatives such as ammonia to replace fossil fuels.
But there should also be a push to "use it where you make it" and create new industries, he said.
Dr Finkel said it's difficult to see the cost of pipe-lining, conversion and shipping below $US2 per kilogram.
The "obvious conclusion" is to use it where it's produced for $US1 a kilogram and process materials that Australia has in abundance, he said.
The International Energy Agency expects the critical minerals market to be bigger than the global coal market by 2030.
Running on 100 per cent renewable energy, local industry could use Australia's emerging hydrogen expertise to ship green iron instead of raw iron ore and produce green fertiliser to feed the world.
"We're not there yet, but we will one day," Dr Finkel said.
Australia could also become a preferred supplier of critical minerals and rare earths, raw and processed, because of higher environmental and labour standards than elsewhere.
But he warned the "use it where you make it" thinking was also evident in Europe and the United States, along with competition from Chile and Saudi Arabia for shipping liquid hydrogen.
New US laws, and massive handouts to companies, are already acting as a magnet for Japanese and European companies to relocate and set up plants to reduce the dependence on China, so Australia may need to put more on the table.
He has been asked by Energy Minister Chris Bowen to advise government on the implications of the US Inflation Reduction Act, which is expected to see the US government spend $US800 billion ($A1.2 trillion) on new energy and industry over the next 10 years.
"This advice is in development and we're intending to be quick," Dr Finkel said.
