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Carsales Staff26 Jun 2020
NEWS

Aussie-built electrolysers to make hydrogen for FCEVs

Locally-made hydrogen production units will pave the way for greener motoring and energy generation

Australian company Elvin Group Renewables has today announced a plan to introduce locally-manufactured ‘electrolysers’ to produce hydrogen that could power a new generation of fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

Local series production of the electrolysers could facilitate widespread supply of hydrogen at existing service stations to power fuel-cell vehicles like the Hyundai NEXO and a number of FCEVs proposed by Australian start-up H2X , including an electric taxi, an SUV and a ute.

In fact, Elvin and another firm Denzo have co-invested in H2X and both companies are fully engaged in the promotion of hydrogen as a fuel of the future.

“This is an exciting development, especially as these electrolysers are being manufactured in Australia, providing jobs and opportunity in our economy,” said Brendan Norman, CEO of H2X.

“We are very pleased to be involved in this project and additional usage of our capacities is an important backbone for H2X’s growth and stability.”

Elvin’s plan to commence local production of the electrolysers hinges on the company’s investment in another firm, Hydrostar, which has developed its own hydrogen electrolyser that is suitable “for renewable energy projects and ready for commercialisation”.

Local staff have assembled the electrolysers from recycled materials and the units have undergone testing in laboratory conditions in Canberra. Hydrostar’s locally-built electrolysers will be reserved for smaller to medium-scale hydrogen demands, between 500kW and 1mW, according to Elvin Group Renewables MD, Samuel Blackadder.

“We believe the time is right for Australia to take hold and drive the hydrogen economy which also means taking control of manufacturing opportunities,” Blackadder was quoted as saying in a press release.

“Instead of importing a hydrogen electrolyser from overseas markets we should be utilising our talented and experienced work force by providing upskilling into a new industry.”

“There is a heavy push internationally to setup our HQ offshore however we believe that Australia has the ability to be at the cutting edge and delivery of the hydrogen economy both domestically and internationally. This will also supply an instant boost to the economy for skilled trades and high value jobs which will grow all parts within the production and delivery chain of this quickly growing industry.”

As exports, the electrolysers could be worth $60 million to the local economy, but Elvin also intends to import and possibly build under licence larger electrolysers supplied by an American company, Giner ELX.

Elvin is currently in discussions with Giner ELX for supply of three large (40mW) electrolysers for installation in three locations: Bundaberg in Queensland, Port Kembla in New South Wales and a third in a Renewable Energy Zone in NSW.

These electrolysers rely on solar power to split the hydrogen atom away from water molecules, leaving oxygen as the only by-product.

“The above cooperation will form a complete supply cycle to the end users of hydrogen thus employing many staff for years to come and this is an all Australian initiative”, said Ken Mathews, CEO of Denzo.

The local company’s marketing position places it in alignment with the federal government’s hydrogen-based strategy for future power generation and exports.

Hydrogen has long been upheld as the solution to cleaner power generation in the future – for industry, for households and for cars – and FCEVs are being developed by some of the world’s biggest car-makers including Toyota, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz.

But there are significant hurdles to overcome with the gas: how to transport it safely and how to produce it on an industrial scale without expending more energy than the gas itself could generate by volume?

Solar power has been the obvious answer to the latter, and the locally-developed electrolysers exploit Australia’s dependable sunlight for that purpose. Elvin describes the Hydrostar electrolysers as ‘scalable’, meaning they can be equally effective for smaller applications, right down to household power supply – much like rooftop solar panels.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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