Victorian Government provides funding for renewable hydrogen

THE Victorian Government in Australia has announced more than A$7m (US$5m) in funding for the state’s renewable hydrogen sector.

The funding will be used for trials to fast-track the technology. Six projects will be supported with A$6.6m of funding through the Renewable Hydrogen Commercialisation Pathways Fund. These are:

• Volgren Australia, which will develop two hydrogen fuel cell buses which will then be trialled on the public transport network.
• The Viva Energy New Energies Service Station (NESS) project will develop a hydrogen refuelling station co-located with electric vehicle charging to deliver new energy solutions to customers.
• Air Liquide’s project will develop a renewable hydrogen facility, with an initial capacity of 130 t/y.
• Energys Australia will also develop a renewable hydrogen production facility.
• Boundary Power will demonstrate a renewable standalone power system – the first of its kind in Australia – where solar power is used along with a renewable hydrogen hydride battery to generate and store electricity.
• Telstra will deploy a renewable hydrogen fuel cell generator at regional mobile communications site to remove the reliance on fossil fuel generators.

A further A$800,000 from the Renewable Hydrogen Business Ready Fund will be given to eight recipients to develop business cases to support the hydrogen transition.

Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, said: “Renewable hydrogen is a key part of our clean energy transition, ensuring we can meet our target of halving emissions by 2030 and hit net zero by 2050. These exciting projects will help businesses push the frontiers of renewable hydrogen and embrace this clean energy solution.

“Victoria’s support for the renewable hydrogen sector will create new jobs while we drive down emissions across our economy by funding the infrastructure and innovation required to accelerate this change.”