| Work Detail |
"Were not talking about an incremental improvement, but a really gigantic leap," Hysata tells pv magazine . This company markets a "new category of electrolysers" achieved at the University of Wollongong.
New South Wales-based Hysata is on track to commercialize the worlds most efficient electrolyser, capable of producing green hydrogen for less than $2 a kilogram by "the mid-2020s," it says. In addition, the company believes it can achieve gigawatt-scale hydrogen production in a similar timeframe, saying its design is simple and suitable for mass manufacturing today.
The company grew out of a breakthrough in electrolysis at the University of Wollongong, south of Sydney, about three years ago. There, researchers led by Gerry Swiegers discovered that hydrogen could be produced much more efficiently by capillary-fed electrolysis.
This has been proven in an article published yesterday in the scientific journal Nature , which has found that the capillary-powered electrolyser can produce green hydrogen from water with 98% cell energy efficiency.
Hysatas electrolyser consumes 40.4 kWh of energy for every kilo of hydrogen it produces. The Nature article notes that commercial electrolysis cells typically consume around 47.5kWh/kg, although Hysata CEO Paul Barrett says it is closer to 52.5kWh/kg. This equates to a system efficiency of around 75%, while Hysatas system claims a total efficiency of 95%.
This 20% increase in efficiency has enabled the huge cost reduction that Hysata says is just a few years away. "The economics of the project collapse because of that efficiency lever," Barrett told pv magazine Australia . The academic added that the company has "a streamlined system that actually cuts the cost quite substantially."
Cost
Barrett did not want to commit publicly on the price of the Hysata electrolyser, but said the company is in talks with about 30 "brand companies" that need green hydrogen and are "thrilled" with the economy.
"Our technology will enable hydrogen production below $1.50 per kilogram by the mid-2020s, meeting Australian and global cost targets well ahead of schedule," said Barrett.
Barrett said the company is now busy building its pilot line of electrolyzers at a house near Wollongong. "Were building a huge testing capacity, just like today," he said. It hopes to start testing them in parallel in the coming months, with plans to expand the pilot line in 2023.
Just a few days ago, Thierry Lepercq, founder of Soladvent and spokesperson for the Hydeal consortium, assured pv magazine that "it is not a matter of magic to reach 1.5 euros/kg of green hydrogen in 2022".
Starting from the pilot scale, the company wants to jump directly to the gigafactories. To this end, Hysata will significantly increase its team of 20 engineers this year.
"We are planning to have systems in the field by 2025," Barrett said.
"I have boards working today on the efficiency and throughput that weve achieved in that work," he added, referring to the study in Nature, adding: "The next thing is to basically chain a lot of them together, similar to how you chain several solar modules. Well connect them in series and that will become our stack."
Barrett said the company plans to keep production in Australia and possibly stay in Wollongong, right next to the Port Kembla hydrogen hub.
"This may be an era-defining company for Australia," the CEO said, noting that Australia imports the vast majority of its renewable energy equipment today, such as solar panels and wind turbines. “There is a real opportunity to create sovereign manufacturing capacity here in Australia and export it to the world,” he added. |
