The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced its involvement in developing HyGATE, the German-Australian Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Incubator pilot project.
ARENA will team up with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), to administer HyGATE which will support real-world pilot, trial, demonstration and research projects along the hydrogen supply chain.
In June 2021, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, announced that Australia and Germany will invest in a series of new initiatives to accelerate the development of a hydrogen industry.
The Australia-Germany Hydrogen Accord, executed by the two countries, builds on respective strengths, with Australia looking to be a major hydrogen exporter and Germany holding expertise in hydrogen technology and planning to import significant quantities of hydrogen in the future.
ARENA’s focus will be on the first initiative of the accord, which is to establish HyGATE with BMBF.
ARENA and BMBF aim to open the funding initiative in the first quarter of 2022. On the German side, Project Management Jülich will implement HyGATE on behalf of BMBF.
Australia and Germany have committed up to AU$50 million and €50 million, respectively, to invest in new renewable hydrogen projects.
The objective of HyGATE is to strengthen the Australian-German cooperation regarding the implementation of a value chain for hydrogen produced from renewables and stimulate the innovation process in both countries.
The HyGATE funding initiative will support the goals of the Australian Government’s Technology Investment Roadmap and ARENA’s priority of commercialising clean hydrogen.
Australia’s Special Adviser on Low Emissions Technology, Dr Alan Finkel, has played a key role in brokering the hydrogen partnership with Germany.
Funding will be provided from the $565.8 million committed in the 2021-2022 Budget initiative to establish low emissions technology partnerships and initiatives with key trading and strategic partners.
All projects funded under the HyGATE initiative are required to be linked to hydrogen from renewables, have a forward-looking approach, and advance novel solutions on a pilot scale under real-world conditions, to progress renewable hydrogen towards commercialisation.
A key element of the initiative will be bringing together Australian and German industry and research partners to deliver the projects.
ARENA CEO, Darren Miller, welcomed ARENA’s involvement and the opportunity to work with BMBF.
“We are excited to work with the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and continue to build a stronger relationship with Germany, who are one of the world’s leaders when it comes to renewable hydrogen technology,” Mr Miller said.
“Having already committed over $160 million into renewable hydrogen research, studies and electrolyser deployments, ARENA now has an opportunity to highlight Australia’s innovation and commitment to growing and being at the forefront of a renewable hydrogen economy.”
Dr Finkel said, “International partnerships are key to accelerating the development of low emissions technologies to unlock their emissions reduction potential.
“Australia’s low emissions technology roadmap has identified clean hydrogen as a priority technology, due to its transformative potential to reduce emissions and create new economic opportunities.
“The HyGATE initiative is an important step in bringing together Australian and German technological excellence, to fast-track the development of zero-emissions hydrogen technologies, and I welcome ARENA’s role in delivering this exciting initiative.”
Further details will be released closer to the opening of the funding initiative. For more information on the HyGATE Hydrogen Funding Initiative, visit ARENA’s funding page.
