Australian start-up-Hysata, which claims to develop the world’s most efficient capillary fed electrolyzer with a 95% efficiency, has secured Series A funding of AUD $42.5 million ($29.4m) to scale-up and mass manufacture its propriety electrolyzer technology by developing a pilot manufacturing facility. This technology was invented by scientists at the University of Wollongong and is now being commercialized by Hysata, with backing from IP Group and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. (CEFC).
So far, the biggest challenge for hydrogen economy is the high-cost high cost of hydrogen production and electrolyzers are at the heart of this problem with high CAPEX. Hysata claims their CFE technology offers a low-cost design, based on earth-abundant materials with high cell efficiency that eliminates the need for expensive cooling. Moreover, the integrated BOP and stack design provides an optimised turnkey system that delivers high purity green hydrogen at the lowest levelized cost. Whereas, other electrolyzer technologies available in the market like PEM and alkaline, requires high-cost rare earth metals like iridium. Moreover, the largest element of the levelized cost of green hydrogen (LCOH) is the cost of the renewable electricity used, so the less power an electrolyser needs to produce each kilogram of H2, the lower the LCOH it would be. Hysata claims their electrolyser operates at 95% system efficiency (41.5 kWh/kg), delivering a giant leap in performance and cost over incumbent technologies, which typically operate at 75% or less [52.5kWh/kg]. The efficiency figure is a reference to the 39.4 kWh (HHV) of energy contained in a kilogram of H2. Further, the company explains on its website that a green hydrogen project producing one million tonnes of H2 per year using 52.5kWh/kg electrolysers would require 14GW of wind and solar power at a world-class location. With the CFE, the same developers would only need 11GW of renewable energy — a cost saving of about $3bn (assuming an average capital cost for renewables of $1m per MW).
Now as part of the Series A funding round, the Australian government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) invested AUD $10 million adding to its initial AUD $750,000 cash injection, with further investments coming from Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas’ investment arm, Vestas Ventures; UK cleantech investor Kiko Ventures; intellectual property commercialization company IP Group Australia; Aussie superannuation fund Hostplus and Australian steel producer BlueScope’s investment arm, BlueScopeX. Assembling such a high profile and high impact list of investors underlines the significance of the transformation that Hysata is bringing to the green hydrogen industry.
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