The Australian innovation driving the next wave of green hydrogen

Hysata manufactures electrolysers, machines that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. It’s a practice others are doing, but the major point of difference at Hysata is energy efficiency, explains co-founder and chief executive officer Dr Paul Barrett.

"We use 20% less energy to split the water than anyone else in the world,” he said.

Because electricity is the largest operating cost in producing green hydrogen, Barrett said improving efficiency changes the economics for industries looking to decarbonise.

"We’re really driving down the cost of hydrogen and transforming the economics of green hydrogen.” 

Solving industry's hardest emissions

The Australian Government’s Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) says renewable hydrogen could play a role in tackling around 10 per cent of Australia’s emissions, particularly in sectors where electrification is difficult. 

Hysata says its electrolysers are designed to lower the cost of producing green hydrogen at scale and it has targeted industries where hydrogen is already an essential part of production and the most mature pathway to decarbonise. 

Those include steelmaking, ammonia, methanol, high-grade industrial heat, and feedstock for sustainable aviation and shipping fuels. 

"We've been going after the profitable but unglamorous and less headline-grabbing industrial decarbonisation," Barrett said. "We never got really caught in the hype cycle of hydrogen homes and cars."

Building in the Illawarra

Although Hysata's customers are global, Barrett said building the business in the Illawarra was a deliberate decision.

The technology was developed at the University of Wollongong before the business expanded into manufacturing at Port Kembla, building on the region's long industrial history.

"It takes a village to get a company like this off the ground," Barrett said. He credits not only Hysata's team, but also the network of local suppliers, manufacturers and partners that helped scale the business. 

"This is a deep tech company and we're really proud of the technology," he said. "But the success for us was getting that first order. That's when a deep tech company becomes a real business."

Celebrating Australian innovation

During a visit to Port Kembla, CommBank Group Executive Business Banking Mike Vacy-Lyle said Hysata demonstrated why Australia needed to do more to celebrate businesses commercialising home-grown innovation.

"We need to make heroes out of innovators," he said, adding that Australian companies developing intellectual property, manufacturing locally and exporting globally would play an essential role in lifting productivity.

"It is absolutely critical that we celebrate those that are embracing advanced technologies, advanced manufacturing, the development of IP, keeping that IP in Australia and commercialising it globally, and putting Australia on the map as a country that has a whole heap of world firsts."

Hysata completed a $172 million Series B capital raise to scale up manufacturing, which Vacy-Lyle said was the largest clean-energy capital raise of its kind in Australian history.

Vacy-Lyle also pointed to the Illawarra as one of Australia's fastest-growing regions, saying businesses like Hysata were helping drive investment, jobs and advanced manufacturing.

He looks to Hysata as exactly the type of business CommBank hopes to recognise through its Innovation Awards, which are open to businesses of all sizes across three categories - Emerging Innovators, Scaling Innovators and Proven Innovators. 

Entry is open to businesses right across Australia and you don't need to bank with CommBank to apply. Winners share in a prize pool of cash grants, mentoring, cloud credits and workshops. 

Looking ahead

With its first commercial order secured, Barrett said the focus has shifted from proving the technology to delivering it and continuing to grow manufacturing.

He said Hysata's success reflected the support it had received throughout its journey, from suppliers to local, state and federal governments.

"We'll pay that back," Barrett said, “by becoming an era-defining company for Australia." 

How to enter the CommBank Innovation Awards

CommBank Innovation is open to Australian businesses across all industries.

Businesses do not need to be CommBank customers to enter.

“At CommBank we are backing innovation because we know that innovation benefits society through improving productivity levels,” Vacy-Lyle said. 

“We are backing innovation across Australia and across the economy.”

Entries can be submitted through the CommBank Innovation website.