Tasmania’s first green hydrogen production and research facility

The Hydrogen Production & Research Facility is Tasmania’s first green hydrogen production facility supporting research & training for blue economy industries whilst providing commercial-scale hydrogen for industry & transport applications.

The facility features a highly innovative DC hydrogen microgrid, controlling one of Australia’s largest electrolysers, generating 100% renewable, green hydrogen.

With an Exclusive Economic Zone of 10 million km², Australia has enormous potential for deploying offshore renewable energy converter technologies for electricity generation, green hydrogen production, offshore industries and hydrogen-powered vessels.

The Blue Economy CRCs Hydrogen Production & Research Facility has been developed to:

To support the decarbonisation of marine and maritime industries through focused research and development;
To demonstrate the benefits of hydrogen for storage and use in broader industry and transport sectors, both onshore and offshore;
To build a skilled workforce capable of innovating, implementing and maintaining these new systems across the hydrogen value chain;
To build social license and community acceptance.

PROJECT PARTNERS

The Hydrogen Production and Research Facility is owned by the Blue Economy CRC and situated at BOC Australia in Lutana, Hobart. The hydrogen microgrid, microturbine and electrolyser infrastructure has been acquired from Optimal Group, and constructed and commissioned by pitt&sherry, Optimal and BOC. BOC will operate and maintain the facility and supply hydrogen to end users.

Research and development will be undertaken by Blue Economy CRC’s partners and collaborators including Optimal Group, pitt&sherry, Tasmanian Government, University of Tasmania, Griffith University and Hydro Tasmania.

Key Benefits

Hydrogen is an effective way to store and export clean energy to blue economy industries. It can provide very high reliability of electricity supply within an islanded microgrid, can displace diesel and other fossil fuels in aquaculture and vessels and finally, the oxygen produced along with hydrogen provides an added benefit to aquaculture.

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Decarbonisation of the marine and maritime sectors by displacing or replacing diesel fuels.
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Alternate, reliable power systems for aquaculture and transport.
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Oxygen benefits in offshore fish farming.
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Creating sustainable offshore systems for island communities or remote areas like Antarctica.

The Hydrogen Production & Research Facility’s research and training activities will also demonstrate the benefits of hydrogen for storage and use in broader industry and transport sectors.

facility features

The facility features a highly innovative DC hydrogen microgrid, controlling one of Australia’s largest electrolysers, generating 100% renewable hydrogen from installed solar PV and verified renewable power from Tasmania’s electricity grid.
The microgrid connects electricity flows between the PV panels, the battery, the hydrogen turbine, a clean electricity source for emulating wind and wave generators, and a programmable load to accurately model end-use scenarios for research purposes.
A 700 kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser delivered by ITM Power in the UK has been installed by Optimal Group, the first of its kind in Tasmania to draw on 100% renewable energy.
The electrolyser splits purified water into hydrogen and oxygen and can generate up to 262 kilograms of gaseous hydrogen per day, equivalent to 11 kilograms per hour or 1.8 tonnes per week, producing zero carbon dioxide.

The Capstone 65 kW hydrogen-fuelled microturbine is a novel technology, and an alternative to employing a fuel cell to generate electricity from hydrogen.
The microturbine is containerised and designed to work as a standalone power generation system which can be deployed in remote locations and to replace diesel-operated generation systems.
A low-pressure storage vessel levels out changes in the hydrogen flow from the electrolyser to the compressor and microturbine. The hydrogen buffer storage contains enough hydrogen to operate the turbine at maximum power for about one hour.
Alternatively, a compressor is used to compress this low-pressure hydrogen into tube trailers holding 180 kg hydrogen, supplied by BOC, for storage and distribution at high pressure.

DOWNLOAD FACT SHEET

THE FACILITY

Facility frontal view

Electrolyser

Compressor

Hydrogen microturbine

Low pressure storage

Tube trailer

GUARANTEE OF ORIGIN (GO) TRIAL

The Hydrogen Production & Research Facility is one of the pilot projects under the Guarantee of Origin (GO) Trial, a world-class assurance scheme being designed to track and verify emissions associated with hydrogen, renewable electricity and potentially other products made in Australia.

The scheme design is the result of extensive consultation by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (the Department) and the Clean Energy Regulator (CER).

FIND OUT MORE

faq

WHAT IS THIS RESEARCH PROJECT AND WHAT ARE ITS AIMS?

The Hydrogen Production and Research Facility is Tasmania’s first green hydrogen production facility supporting research and training development for blue economy industries.

The facility features a highly innovative DC hydrogen microgrid, controlling one of Australia’s largest electrolysers, generating 100% renewable, green hydrogen from installed solar PV and verified renewable power from Tasmania’s electricity grid.

Since 2021, the Blue Economy CRC has been researching the viability of offshore hydrogen production at scale for two main purposes:

To explore ways of supporting and decarbonising marine industries through research;
To explore potential commercial opportunities to power local industries, both onshore and offshore;

The microgrid is able to emulate inputs from renewable sources and loads from industrial applications, simulating real-world conditions. This will help deliver highly accurate data needed to make industry-changing recommendations.

The research facility, situated at BOC’s Lutana site in Hobart, is now operational.

WHY HYDROGEN?

With net-zero emissions and decarbonisation key priorities in our energy shift, low-carbon energy sources such as hydrogen are gaining momentum in a bid to meet global sustainability goals. Hydrogen has the capacity to provide reliable clean green energy due to its zero carbon emissions when produced from renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and solar.

Hydrogen is an effective way to store clean energy and supply electricity to offshore sites beyond the reach of subsea power cables. Additionally, hydrogen’s flexibility of use means it can displace diesel and other fossil fuels in aquaculture and vessels. The oxygen produced in the process of making hydrogen provides an added benefit to aquaculture.

HOW IS HYDROGEN PRODUCED?

Green hydrogen, with very little embedded carbon-dioxide emission, is produced from green electricity by electrolysis. In the electrolyser, the supplied electric energy is used to split the water molecule (H₂O) into its constituent hydrogen (H₂) and oxygen (O₂) at an energy cost of about 55 kWh of electricity per kilogram of hydrogen produced and consumes 20 litres of water per kg H₂produced.

WHAT IS A DC MICROGRID?

DC microgrids are part of a modern trend towards DC power transmission and management. While grid electricity is AC (Alternating Current), renewable energy technologies are mostly “DC-inside” (Direct Current), including batteries, electrolysers and fuel cells. Technologies such as wind and water turbines and wave energy converters are effectively DC-inside because their output needs to be synchronised to the electricity grid via a DC stage.

This makes a DC microgrid the natural choice for managing energy systems in which multiple resources, such as solar, wind and wave power, are integrated with energy storage to smooth the uneven power availability of renewables.

HOW THE DC MICROGRID WORKS

A DC microgrid incorporates a rooftop photovoltaic array (26 kW), battery (114 kWh), Capstone C65 pure-hydrogen turbine electricity generator (65 kW) and a small hydrogen buffer storage holding 7.8 kg of hydrogen gas at 2 MPa pressure.

An electronic DC electricity generator will be programmed by computer to emulate a renewable energy source such as a wave energy converter, wind turbine or fuel cell. Together with a programmable load bank, it allows the microgrid to emulate many kinds of energy systems for research studying how microgrids can be employed to manage energy and hydrogen flows.

WHAT IS GREEN HYDROGEN?

Green hydrogen is a clean energy source that’s made by splitting water using renewable electricity. It’s also known as renewable hydrogen. It differs from brown and blue hydrogen, which use fossil fuels or natural gas in their production.

IS HYDROGEN SAFE TO STORE AND USE?

Yes, hydrogen can be considered safe to store and use when handled properly, just as we have to store and use gasoline and natural gas properly. Proper storage and transportation require specialised tanks, leak detection systems, and strict safety standards to manage risks. As green hydrogen is a zero-carbon energy carrier, it has no environmental impact when produced and used.

WHICH PARTNERS ARE INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FACILITY?

The Hydrogen Production and Research Facility is owned by the Blue Economy CRC and situated at BOC Australia in Lutana, Hobart.

The hydrogen microgrid, microturbine and electrolyser infrastructure has been acquired from Optimal Group and financed by Macquarie Bank. BOC has partnered with the Blue Economy CRC to undertake the construction, commissioning and operation of the electrolyser and the associated compression, storage and transport aspects. pitt&sherry are the Project Advisors for this Project.

Research and development will be undertaken by several of the Blue Economy CRC’s partners and collaborators including Optimal Group, pitt&sherry, Tasmanian Government, University of Tasmania, Griffith University and Hydro Tasmania.

The Hydrogen Production and Research Facility also supports the research and training of several Higher Degrees by Research students. Blue Economy CRC is one of the pilot projects for the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Regulators Guarantee of Origin (GO) trial.

Related Projects

HYDROGEN RESEARCH

The DC hydrogen microgrid demonstration project is the flagship and focal point of the CRC’s research in offshore renewable energy systems (ORES). It also supports our participation in the Australian Government’s hydrogen Guarantee of Origin trial program.

Modelling and operation of a hydrogen microgrid with 700kW electrolyser

DC Microgrids for Offshore Applications

System level modelling to improve the performance of Offshore Sustainable Power

Hydrogen Powering of Vessels

Hydrogen Storage and Distribution

Offshore/High Energy Sustainable Hybrid Power Systems

OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS

Offshore renewable energy systems are about capturing and supplying energy. Vital aspects including offshore engineering, risk and marine spatial planning are also addressed in related projects. See our full list of Projects.