CSIRO launches $68 million, five-year Hydrogen Industry Mission

CSIRO has launched a $68 million, five-year Hydrogen Industry Mission, to support over 100 projects in the service of a hydrogen production under $2 per kilogram goal.

The Mission’s funding includes $38 million from CSIRO, $12 million from the federal government, and $18 million from its industry and research partners (listed below.)

Australia had the potential to be a global leader in hydrogen production, use and export, said CSIRO’s CEO Dr Larry Marshall, though only if the $2 target was met.

“That needs Australia’s world class science working with CSIRO’s commercialisation expertise turning breakthrough science into real-world solutions,” Marshall said in a statement. 

“Taking a Team Australia approach is essential to creating the 8,000 jobs and $11 billion a year in GDP that hydrogen can contribute to Australia’s economy as we build back better from the impacts of COVID-19.”

CSIRO’s Hydrogen Mission is led by Dr Patrick Hartley, and covers four key programs of work, “some of which have already begun.” 

These are:

• Hydrogen Knowledge Centre to capture and promote hydrogen projects and industry developments across Australia.
  The first module, HyResource, was launched in September with NERA, the Future Fuels CRC and The Australian Hydrogen Council. 

• Feasibility and strategy studies to deliver trusted advice to government, industry and the community.
  This builds on recent hydrogen cost modelling and barrier analysis provided as part of developing the National Hydrogen Strategy. 

• Demonstration projects that validate hydrogen value chains and de-risk enabling technologies.
  Development is underway at a new facility in Clayton, Victoria, with Swinburne University and the Victorian Government.  

• Enabling science and technology through investment in breakthrough science, including a $20m partnership with Fortescue which focuses on the development and commercialisation of new hydrogen technologies. 

The Missions Program was launched in August last year by CSIRO, and focusses on “ambitious and far-reaching goals” in six challenge areas: “health and wellbeing, our food security and quality, our national security, the resilience of our environment, the sustainability of our energy and resources, and the future of our industries.”

Partners include: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER), Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) , Fortescue Metals Group,  Swinburne University, the Victorian Government, the Future Fuels CRC, National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), and the Australian Hydrogen Council, along with collaborators Toyota and Hyundai.

The announcement coincides with the 2021 Australian Hydrogen Conference, running on Wednesday and Thursday at the International Convention Centre Sydney, and announcements such as a Clean Energy Finance Corporation study looking at the cost competitiveness of green hydrogen up to 2050.

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