NSW manufacturer signs MW-scale order for hydrogen electrolyser 

Wollongong-based green hydrogen venture Hysata announced it has signed a binding megawatt-scale purchase order for its capillary-fed alkaline electrolyser system with a customer Chief Executive Officer Paul Barrett described only as “a global heavy-industry leader.”

Barrett said the deal is a key milestone for the company, and “undeniable evidence that in a market where economics and execution matter most, customers are backing differentiated technology like ours.”

“Five years ago, we founded Hysata with a clear belief: green hydrogen at scale would not be unlocked by incremental improvement. It would require a step change in electrolyser efficiency and system design to materially improve project economics,” he said in a social media post. “This order validates that conviction.”

Spun out of the University of Wollongong, Hysata has developed a capillary-fed electrolyser designed to produce green hydrogen at scale with higher energy efficiency and lower costs than alternative technologies.

Hysata’s design uses a sponge membrane to achieve direct delivery of water to electrodes and eliminate the formation of gas bubbles that crowd the electrode in traditional electrolysers and reduce the efficiency.

The company said its electrolyser is the world’s most efficient, requiring 41.5 kWh of electricity to produce 1 kilogram of green hydrogen, which translates to 95% efficiency.

Barrett said the Hysata system is about 20% more efficiently than incumbent technologies, with a “radically simpler balance of plant, faster installation and a design built for high-volume manufacturing,” all aimed at lowering the cost of green hydrogen and making projects bankable at scale.

“Our mission at Hysata is to accelerate the deep decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, chemical manufacture, and heavy transport, by delivering the world’s most efficient, simple, and reliable electrolysers,” he said. “With high-efficiency, intrinsically low capex and a mass-manufacturable design, Hysata aims to drive down the levelised cost of hydrogen.”