Australian start-up Hysata to commercialise 'ultra-efficient' hydrogen electrolyser, backed by government funding

Australia’s Hysata has today (Monday) received A$20.9m ($13.6m) from the government to test and develop a 5MW version of its “capillary-fed electrolyser” — which has reached 95% system efficiency in testing, compared to about 75% for incumbent technology.

This theoretically enables about 20% more green hydrogen to be produced from the same amount of electricity than is possible with today’s alkaline and PEM electrolysers.

The start-up, which spun out of the University of Wollongong, will develop and manufacture a 5MW version of its electrolyser at a manufacturing facility in Port Kembla also opened today.

The first unit will then be shipped to the Stanwell Power Station in Queensland for a field test in 2025.

Queensland government-owned power company Stanwell Corporation has pledged, in a memorandum of understanding, to commit A$3m towards the demonstration.

Hystata has previously been awarded A$8.98m from the Australian government and €5.9m ($6.46m) from Germany under the two countries’ HyGATE programme, which provided finance toward deploying technology through any part of the hydrogen value chain.

From this previous grant, Hysata is currently developing a 200kW electrolyser which will demonstrate components to be used in the 5MW system.

Hysata’s technology uses a wicking membrane to target delivery of liquid between two electrodes to prevent bubbling of gases in the water. Combined with a low resistance separator, this drastically reduces electrical resistance within the cell.

For instance, California-based solid-oxide electrolyser maker Bloom Energy says it has demonstrated an efficiency of 37.7kWh/kg during pilot studies, when utilising waste heat. And Connecticut-based Fuel Cell Energy says its solid-oxide electrolyser can reach 90% efficiency without any waste heat, but this technology has not yet been commercialised.

Hysata’s technology could be able to produce hydrogen at $1.60/kg — compared to $2.10/kg for alkaline electrolysers — by 2030, according to internal company calculations.

The Australian company has built a pipeline of 9.4GW, although this is based on both signed conditional orders and non-binding letters of intent. And last year, it closed an oversubscribed Series A funding round at A$42.5m.