UNSW

The University of New South Wales’s Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou, who heads the Hydrogen Energy Research Centre, has launched H2Potential, a hydrogen advisory firm that seeks to incubate and accelerate some of the world’s most promising hydrogen companies as well as advising prominent companies and industry how to join the hydrogen revolution.

In efforts to improve PV performance by helping modules keep their cool, the Martin Green team is going for 10 degrees lower operating temperatures. Cherry-picking the most practical approaches could deliver 50% extended project life.

The joint feasibility study between Australia and Germany, HySupply, to determine the viability of a renewable energy-based hydrogen supply chain between the two countries, has progressed again after global firm RWE Supply & Trading and Australian-based The Hydrogen Utility signed a Memorandum of Understanding which could see green ammonia exports from South Australia to Germany’s LNG Terminal in Brunsbüttel.

A new research project being led by the University of New South Wales will investigate how rooftop solar PV and other distributed energy resources (DER), including small-scale batteries can be best integrated into Australia’s power grid.

UNSW Sydney researchers pioneered the development of solar photovoltaic technology, which is now helping the University achieve net zero emissions from energy use.

Sydney-based domestic hydrogen electrolyser and storage system manufacturer LAVO has revealed it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish Australia’ s first hydrogen fuel cell production line in Springfield City, a private-sector CBD development in Queensland.

The University of New South Wales along with several other universities and the CSIRO are embarking on a feasibility study into how New South Wales can utilise excess renewable energy to make fuel, chemicals and feedstocks for industry. The aim is to develop a plan for how fuels and chemicals such as green hydrogen and ammonia produced from renewables can decarbonise industry and grow manufacturing.

The LAVO 40 kWh battery incorporates an electrolyser, groundbreaking UNSW materials science, and Australian fuel-cell technology, in a slick unit that will be market ready in June this year. Gowing Bros last week became an equity investor and LAVO’s first major customer.

Chemical engineers at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney have made a significant technological breakthrough in the development of green ammonia. The breakthrough could not only alter the global ammonia industry, but more easily use solar to produce green ammonia for export to countries like Japan and Germany instead of straight hydrogen.

Soon 2020 will only be a worry to future high-school history students. But when they ask us if anything good at all happened in 2020, remember this review and tell them that solar PV shone in the darkness. Despite the mess of it all, 2020 has been another good year for Australian solar. The industry has demonstrated resilience, and significant progress has been made in the fields of energy storage, green hydrogen and others.