Armed with its technology for efficient electrolysis and backed by a war chest of startup funding, Australian electrolyzer company Hysata is moving ahead with plans to scale up to commercial production in 2025. The progress comes amidst fresh recognition for the company as a significant new venture that is rapidly expanding at its new 8,000 square meter headquarters and manufacturing facility at Port Kembia, a suburb of Wollongong on the coast in New South Wales south of Sydney.
“Hysata’s new facility in Port Kembla signals the next phase of our scale-up journey,” said CEO Paul Barrett when the facility was opened in August 2023. “Our plan encompasses the construction of a 100 MW per annum production line, with commercial-scale units scheduled for delivery in 2025,” he noted. “And we will ramp up rapidly to giga scale capacity thereafter. With exceptional 95% (41.5 kWh/kg H2) efficiency combined with cost-effective materials and minimised engineering, procurement and construction costs, Hysata’s electrolyser will deliver the lowest levelised cost of hydrogen for green hydrogen producers,” he pledged.
The technology was developed in research nearby at the University of Wollongong and its ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science. Professor Gerry Swiegers from ACES and UOW’s Intelligent Polymer Research Institute led the research team and now serves as chief technical officer of Hysata, established as a spinout from the university to commercialize the technology.
Hysata’s core technology is a capillary-fed electrolysis (CFE) cell designed around a wicking membrane that allows targeted delivery of liquid between the two electrodes. The CFE cell couples bubble-free operation with a low resistance separator, which together collapses the electrical resistance in the cell. The cell is the building block of its system — stack + balance of power + power supply –which can operate at 95% system efficiency (41.5 kWh/kg). This compares to leading incumbent technologies which operate at around 75% (52.5 kWh/kg) system efficiency, says the company.
The Australian Government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), has given a vote of confidence in Hysata’s technology by making a $20.9 million grant from its Advancing Renewables Program, helping support commercial demonstration of a 5 MW electrolyzer unit for operational trials.
The leap in performance has attracted funding from private venture capital backers as well, including an investment round of $42.5 million AUD, spurred by the system efficiency coupled with Hysata’s simple approach to mass manufacturing and supply chain issues.
On February 23, Hysata hosted Executive Secretary for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Stiell at its new headquarters (top image). Stiell was joined by Minister for Climate Change and Energy the Hon Chris Bowen MP and Member for Cunningham Alison Byrnes MP for a tour of Hysata’s electrolyser manufacturing facility during his first official visit to Australia.
Hysata CEO Paul Barrett said it was an honor to welcome Simon Stiell and Minister Bowen to Hysata’s electrolyser manufacturing facility to discuss climate leadership and showcase Australian ingenuity: “It was a huge honour for Hysata to welcome Mr Stiell, the United Nations’ leading authority on climate change to showcase our high efficiency electrolyser and manufacturing capability. Mr Stiell had some incredibly insightful comments about the urgency of global climate action, and the importance of government, industry and academia working together to solve challenges. He’s an engineer by background and really knows and understands manufacturing well. He was excited by not only Hysata’s energy efficiency but our ability to mass manufacture our product.”
A few days earlier, Hysata hosted the inaugural annual meeting between project proponents for the HyGATE initiative, focused on assessing all progress made to date, setting an agenda for 2024 and providing a forum to meet face-to-face for the first time. The HyGATE project is a collaboration between the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), on behalf of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW), together with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), through Project Management Julich (PtJ). The Australian and German governments have committed funding for up to AU$50 million and €50 million respectively to focus on reducing the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable sources and encouraging innovation between our nations. Of this funding, Hysata was allocated A$8.9m from ARENA and €5.9 million by BMBF.
For more info, see www.hysata.com.
