The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced up to $49 million in funding to support Hysata to establish a commercial-scale electrolyser manufacturing line at Port Kembla in New South Wales.
The $98 million project will establish a 50 MW per annum manufacturing line for Hysata's Australian-developed capillary-fed electrolyser technology, with the facility designed to scale to 200 MW per annum through 24-hour operations as demand grows.
Developed from research at the University of Wollongong, Hysata's technology is designed to produce renewable hydrogen more efficiently, helping lower costs and supporting the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industries such as steelmaking, chemicals, shipping and heavy transport.
The project includes the deployment of early commercial megawatt-scale electrolyser systems, helping demonstrate the technology in real-world applications and support future commercial growth.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said building Australia's capability to manufacture renewable energy technologies locally would be critical to capturing more value from the energy transition.
"Australia has world-class clean energy innovators, and Hysata is a great example of home-grown technology with the potential to compete globally," Mr Miller said.
"This project will help move Australian innovation from the lab into large-scale manufacturing, creating skilled jobs while strengthening Australia's capability to produce critical clean energy technologies locally."
"By supporting advanced manufacturing of electrolysers here in Australia, we're helping build the industries that can underpin a future renewable hydrogen sector and create long-term economic opportunities."
The project is expected to create around 40 new skilled jobs across manufacturing, engineering and technical roles in the Illawarra region. Hysata will also work with the University of Wollongong and TAFE NSW Illawarra to deliver training, internships and skills development pathways to help grow the local workforce needed to support the clean energy transition.
A key feature of the project is the planned local manufacture of core electrolyser components, including membranes, anodes and cathodes, supporting Australia's sovereign manufacturing capability and clean energy supply chains.
