The Hunter Hydrogen Research and Innovation Facility (HyRIF)
R&D Focus Areas:
Mobility, Whole supply chain
Lead Organisation:
Port of Newcastle
Partners:
University of Newcastle and Macquarie Investments
Status:
Active
Start date:
November 2022
Completion date:
October 2025
Key contacts:
Project Leader: Mr Simon Byrnes, Chief Commercial Officer, Port of Newcastle Operations Pty Ltd; Port of Newcastle
Technical Lead: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi: behdad.moghtaderi@newcastle.edu.au
Funding:
Funding support is provided by the newly established “Integrated Hydrogen, Green Manufacturing and Export Hub at the Port of Newcastle”. The Hub has received AUD$83 million funding from the Federal Government in 2022.
Project total cost:
AUD$5,000,000 (cash) provided by the Integrated Hydrogen, Green Manufacturing and Export Hub at the Port of Newcastle.
Project summary description:
The purpose of HyRIF is to bridge the critical gap in the translation of innovation and specifically to improve the economic viability of ‘home-grown’ technologies for transforming, transporting, and storing hydrogen in conjunction with key government and industry partners.
HyRIF will have the necessary infrastructure, equipment and, importantly, the expertise to provide support across the hydrogen RD&D (research, development and demonstration) spectrum, including prototyping, assessment, validation and certification of all types of hydrogen-related technologies and/or components.
The HyRIF will consist of hydrogen storage, compression, and dispensing capabilities. The HyRIF will be the first facility of its kind in the Hunter region of New South Wales and will be available to end-users (e.g., industry, academia, and government) for use in RD&D activities.
The HyRIF will serve as a proving ground for components, systems, and control testing and will provide a hydrogen distribution network to multiple laboratories researching hydrogen production through renewable electrolysis, fuel cell manufacturing and testing of high-pressure components and hydrogen sensors.
The HyRIF will also house representatives of current commercially available hydrogen fuelling stations for validation and adaptation of the current industry standards and methods for hydrogen fuelling in Australia. The fuelling facility will also provide a platform for development and testing of the next generation fuelling technologies.
The emphasis on fuelling infrastructure is driven by the fact that the transport sector and mobility applications are considered as hydrogen offtakes which can potentially create large-scale demand for hydrogen in the short to medium term.
Related publications and key links:
Not applicable
Higher degree studies supported:
Two postdoctoral research fellows will be supported by this project.
May 2022