The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has awarded conditional funding to four Australian and German projects as part of the German-Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator (known as HyGATE).
ARENA, on behalf of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW), has teamed up with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), through Project Management Jülich (PtJ), to administer HyGATE.
Australia and Germany committed funding up to AU$50 million and €50 million, respectively, to the HyGATE initiative which began in March 2022. The objective of HyGATE is to strengthen Australian-German cooperation on reducing the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable sources and to stimulate the innovation process in both countries.
HyGATE brings together Australian and German industry and research partners to deliver new hydrogen projects, with the projects primarily occurring in Australia.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said, “Collaboration with Germany will help grow Australia’s hydrogen export market and support our nation’s vision of becoming a renewable energy superpower.
“These projects demonstrate Australia’s role as a world leader in renewable energy production, reducing the cost of hydrogen production and paving the way for exports.”
Organisations that have received funding through ARENA and PtJ have been chosen based on their ability to deliver on one or more of the specified outcomes of the funding round, including:
- Demonstrating highly innovative technology across the value chain of renewable hydrogen
- Reducing the cost of hydrogen production, transport, storage and use, and supporting the commercial viability of renewable hydrogen
- Developing an Australian-German supply-chain for renewable hydrogen
- Encouraging cross-country collaboration and knowledge sharing between Australian and German organisations
- Providing price discovery and transparency in relation to the current and projected economics for renewable hydrogen technologies
The Australia-Germany Hydrogen Accord, announced in June 2021, builds on the respective strengths of the two countries. Australia has the potential to be a world leader in the production and export of clean hydrogen and Germany holds expertise in hydrogen technology and is planning to import significant quantities of hydrogen in the future.
ARENA CEO, Darren Miller, said the HyGATE Initiative was a great next step in helping to commercialise renewable hydrogen.
“We’re excited to be able to announce these four hydrogen projects that demonstrate the benefit of global collaboration to achieve a new export industry in renewable hydrogen and push us further towards the goal of net zero emissions,” Mr Miller said.
“HyGATE highlights our strong relationship with Germany. Through our joint support we will bring together Australian innovation and state-of-the-art German renewable hydrogen technology for the benefit of both countries.
For more information on the HyGATE funding round, please visit ARENA’s HyGATE funding page.
ARENA and PtJ have awarded conditional offers of funding to the following projects:
| Company (Australian lead applicant) | Company (German lead applicant) | Project Name | ARENA Funding (AUD) | BMBF Funding (EUR) |
| ATCO Australia | Fraunhofer IST | ScaleH2 | $0.8 million | €4.7 million |
| Hysata | Fraunhofer IPT | High-efficiency ‘Capillary-fed’ Electrolyser Pilot Project | $8.98 million | €5.9 million |
| Edify Energy | Siemens Energy Global GmbH | Edify Green Hydrogen Project | $20.74 million | €16.4 million |
| Vast Solar | Fichtner GmbH | Solar Methanol | $19.48 million | €13.2 million |
