(Wollongong / Australia) – Australian electrolyser manufacturer Hysata Pty Ltd has opened a manufacturing facility in Port Kembla. The company headquarters is now also located there. The industrial site with around 5.000 inhabitants is considered a suburb of the city of Wollongong, which has a population of 200.000, in the Illawarra region of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW).
Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen (centre), officially opened the new Hysata site. © Hysata
The factory paves the way for the commercialization of what it describes as a “groundbreaking, high-efficiency electrolyzer.” Initially, a five megawatt unit will be produced in a pilot project and tested next to the power plant of the state energy supplier Stanwell Corporation near the city of Rockhampton, Queensland, around two hours' flight away. The Australian government is supporting this project through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ARENA with 20,9 million Australian dollars (12,4 million euros). Stanwell is supporting the field test with another three million US dollars (2,7 million euros). The project will create 44 new jobs at Hysata.
“Next phase of scaling”: Hysata CEO Paul Barrett (left) and CTO Gerry Swiegers. © Hysata
“Hysata’s new Port Kembla facility signals the next phase of scaling,” says Hysata CEO Paul Barret. There are already orders and declarations of intent for electrolyzers with an output of 9,4 gigawatts. “Our plan includes building a production line with a capacity of 100 megawatts per year, with commercial-scale delivery planned for 2025.” After that, we will “rapidly ramp up to giga-scale capacity,” said Barrett.
Electrolyzer reduces electricity requirements by 20 percent
The new electrolyser, which the University of Wollongong was involved in developing, has an “extraordinary efficiency” of 95 percent, according to the company. For manufacturers of green hydrogen with a requirement of 41,5 kilowatt hours per kilogram of hydrogen, it currently offers the lowest electricity production costs for such products. Conventional commercial alkaline water electrolyzers produce more than 50 kilowatt hours per kilogram produced, while the Hysata concept is around 20 percent less.
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen (left) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck pledged financial support to the Hysate project in Berlin as part of the joint Hygate initiative between both countries. © Chris Bowen / Xcom
During a visit to Berlin by Australia's Energy Minister Chris Bowen in February, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck named four projects that would be carried out as part of the joint Initiative “German-Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator” (HyGate) will be funded. This also includes “CFE Pilot” (High-Efficiency Capillary-fed Electrolyser Pilot) for the further development of Hysata’s capillary-fed electrolyzers.
The German participants in the consortium are Alantum Europe GmbH, Messkonzept GmbH, VAF GmbH, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT). On the Australian side, alongside Hysata, the steel manufacturer Bluescope Steel is involved.
Support from large companies
Hysata can also be sure of the support of large companies. In August last year, Virescent Ventures led a financing round on behalf of Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), resulting in proceeds of 42,5 million Australian dollars (25,2 million euros). Participants included Kiko Ventures (UK), IP Group Australia, wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Ventures (Denmark), Hostplus (Australia) and Bluescope. CEFC itself invested a further ten million dollars in the Series A financing round, after the Australian government funding organization had already committed $750.000 in funding for the early commercial development of Hysata's research results.
Port Kembla as a hydrogen center
Port Kembla, a major industrial seaport on Australia's east coast, is listed as a hydrogen hub in the country's National Hydrogen Strategy. The State of New South Wales is supporting the development of the Port Kembla Hydrogen Hub in collaboration with government, industry, business and research stakeholders. The port has a potential production capacity for the electrolysis of green hydrogen of more than five gigawatts or 1.500 tonnes per day, NSW is courting interested parties for the site.
Rendering of Squadron Energy's future plant site: The company wants to build a "dual-fuel" power plant in Port Kembla, whose turbines will run on both natural gas and green hydrogen. © GHD / Squadron Energy
Well-known companies have already registered their interest: Squadron Energy Pty Ltd wants a 635 megawatt build whose “dual-fuel” turbines run on both natural gas and green hydrogen. The steel manufacturer Blue Scope Steel Ltd. and Shell Energy Operations Pty Ltd are jointly planning renewable hydrogen projects at the Bluescope Port Kembla steelworks. The first pilot project involves the development, construction and operation of a 10 megawatt electrolyser to test the use of green hydrogen in the blast furnace for low-emission steel production using direct reduced iron (DRI).
The British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto and the mining magnate Andrew Forrest, founder of the Fortescue Metals Group, are also directly or indirectly involved. And Australian industrial gas company Coregas Pty. Ltd. The first one open to the public opened in Port Kembla at the beginning of August hydrogen filling station of the country for heavy-duty vehicles.
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Port Kembla is the location of Hysata's new electrolyser factory and its new headquarters. © NSW Ports
