Hysata is developing into a powerhouse in the electrolyser manufacturing game. Opening a new facility in Port Kembla, the company is poised to explode on the international market.
Manufacturers’ Monthly sat down with CEO Paul Barrett to uncover the secrets to the company’s success and what the future may hold as it enters the renewable market.
Paul BARRETT has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University College, Dublin and after living in the US for close to a decade he developed a passion for renewable energy and made the shift to Australia.
“I have a decent technical and commercial background in electrochemistry and coupled with my passion for decarbonisation the role with Hysata was a logical one for me to take on,” Barrett explained.
Hysata is an Australian electrolyser company headquartered in Port Kembla that is developing a completely new type of electrolyser, featuring the world’s most efficient electrolysis cell coupled with a simplified balance of plant. Electricity makes up most of the cost of green hydrogen and, therefore, the most efficient electrolyser will deliver the lowest cost hydrogen.
This technology breakthrough originated with Professor Gerry Swiegers at the University of Wollongong, who has been working in the electrochemistry field for more than 30 years. His strong research background coupled with his experience solving industrial challenges led to the core invention behind Hysata.
“The challenge for existing electrolysers is they are electrically inefficient, they generate too much waste heat and require too much cooling,” Barrett explained.
“That core idea of improving efficiency is what started Hysata, ensuring the electrolyser has very little heat rejection and therefore less cooling – so in turn less energy is required to split water as very little of the energy is wasted as heat.
“Swiegers and I had a chat in a beachside café where he showed me a graph that demonstrated the success of the system. I was in awe of the cell performance as it was unprecedented –
a real game-changer in electrolysis.
“So, we brought in some people to independently test it and the results were the same and we could not believe the performance,” he said.
After that success, Barrett joined the Hysata team full time as its CEO and the company began the process of growing its manufacturing capabilities.
What is an electrolyser?
The electrolyser is an apparatus that produces hydrogen through a chemical process (electrolysis) capable of separating the hydrogen and oxygen molecules of which water is composed using electricity.
Without giving away the secret to Hysata’s success, Barrett elaborated on what makes the Hysata electrolyser so special.
“We have a really differentiated technology when it comes to cost and performance, but we have been very thoughtful about the design to give us scope for mass manufacturing,” he explained.
“By having less energy used we are able to lower the levelized cost of the hydrogen,” Barrett said.
Green hydrogen is vital for decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors such as steelmaking, chemical manufacture, heavy transport and high grade industrial heat. However, it is still economically uncompetitive.
Efficient electrolysis is a leading hydrogen production pathway to achieve the goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen by 80 per cent to one dollar per one kilogram in one decade.
Hydrogen produced via electrolysis can result in zero greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the source of the electricity used. The source of the required electricity—including its cost and efficiency, as well as emissions resulting from electricity generation—must be considered when evaluating the benefits and economic viability of hydrogen production via electrolysis.
Improving manufacturing capabilities and growing the workforce
Barrett went on to detail how for the team at Hysata, it has been imperative they put the right people in the right places, from the original researcher Swiegers, through to those working on growing the manufacturing capabilities.
“We have Gerry who, is our expert on the research side, and we have Scott Abrahamson who is in our engineering department, and he is as equally experienced as Gerry but in mass manufacturing,” he said.
“Scott has close to 30 years’ experience in the high-tech manufacturing space where he had countless product launches including time spent with Apple mass manufacturing millions of high quality devices and components daily.
“We have been thoughtful about how we design the stack, and it will allow us to mass manufacture the electrolyser,” Barrett said.
Hysata is in the process of commissioning a 100 megawatt per annum manufacturing line at its site in Port Kembla.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is contributing to that new production line, but Barrett explained some of the challenges the company faces in Australia.
“We need to continue developing our advanced manufacturing talent to ensure we have the pipeline of local skills required to support future industries such as green hydrogen,” he explained.
“In the short-term, we will need to bring in some specialised engineers from abroad to ensure we can fulfil our workforce requirement as our manufacturing capabilities grow, and train our local workforce.
“Our VP for example has relocated to Australia to immediately meet our needs, including training up the workforce so local talent benefits,” Barrett said.
The wider team at Hysata has become heavily invested in the goal of the company to help decarbonising on a global scale.
“We have reformed carbon workers, so people from the coal, oil and gas industry that have joined us at Hysata who were excited to shift industries to something that would help the planet,” Barrett said.
“We are actually finding it very simple to source local talent and with the two-year skilled visas, we can supplement our local workforce with those from overseas.
“We will see our needs growing dramatically in the future and we need the workforce to jump in size, so our big focus in the coming years will be meeting our needs.
“We need every type of engineer, mechanical, mechatronic, electrical, chemical manufacturing, project managers, so we really need a huge number of skills, and would really love the backbone of that workforce to be domestic,” he said.
The company has a range of training programs in development and has started an internship program to get students across from the University of Wollongong.
New facility
Hysata opened its new 8000 sqm global headquarters and electrolyser manufacturing facility in Port Kembla back in August. Barrett spoke about the benefits of setting up its global headquarters in Australia.
“Only in Australia could you have a manufacturing facility at a location like ours, it is basically beach front, it is such a nice place to come to work,” he said.
“This is a big part of our culture, working somewhere like this means people come to work with a smile on their face.
“We were intent on getting a facility that we could grow in – it meets our needs now but has the space for us to grow,” Barrett said.
Barrett explained that the thought process in having one main facility as opposed to numerous facilities over the country is ensuring all workers are moving in the same direction and the company has strong clarity on where it is headed.
Going to a regional hub like Port Kembla was a simple one for Hysata as real estate was cheaper for both the company and its workers. It is next door to a steel works and is close to a number of high-quality machine shops, meeting all the needs of the modern manufacturer.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy the Hon Chris Bowen MP officially opened the facility and announced $20.9 million funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to support the first 5MW commercial demonstration of Hysata’s electrolyser with Stanwell in Queensland.
“We’re delighted to support game-changing, homegrown innovation that will power our future as a clean energy manufacturer and a renewable energy superpower,” Bowen said.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the project is a crucial step to enabling purchase orders for the technology.
“Hysata is a great example of Australian innovation leading the way in renewable energy. This electrolyser technology could be a game-changer for renewable hydrogen,” he said.
“The demonstration at Stanwell’s site will be key to unlocking commercial demand for Hysata’s product by proving the technology works at scale.
“ARENA has been involved in this technology since it was just a concept in a laboratory, so we’re pleased to be supporting this next step toward commerciality. Identifying promising renewable energy solutions and helping them along the innovation chain is what ARENA does best,” Milburn said.
The future
Hysata and its customers are buoyed and excited for what the future may hold. The system, the scalability of the manufacturing and the system architecture are all exciting for those involved.
“COVID-exposed Australia, it showed us that we need to have more sovereign capabilities in Australia, and we have taken that very seriously,” Barrett said.
“There is a serious need to grow our battery manufacturing, turbines, and wider renewable manufacturing abilities. Australia can become a powerhouse of renewable manufacturing.
“It is a big supply chain risk that most of what we need in Australia is manufactured overseas but it is also important that what Australia does is different from what is done overseas,” he said.
Barrett explained that Hysata has developed technology that differs from anything else available globally. He detailed that it is challenging for Australian manufacturers to compete on price so creating a difference is what is important.
“We are really laser focused on bringing up this 100-megawatt manufacturing line and using that as the platform to get into a multi gigawatt manufacturing capacity shortly thereafter,” Barrett explained.
“Another part of our future is giving back to the rest of the industry; we have a lot of work to do ourselves, but we need to bring others along on our ride and help them to grow and improve.
“We are really passionate about the Illawarra region, and working with universities in NSW and across Australia to bring talent into our company and inspire the next generation to enter this emerging industry”.,” Barrett said.
Maximising Australia’s renewable potential
Barrett went on to explain the importance for Australia to maximise its location and natural resources when considering its renewable manufacturing capabilities.
“We have an enormous coastline in Australia, in which the possibilities are endless,” he explained.
“We have solar and wind resources”
.jpg)
.png){kind=small}
