The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on behalf of the Department of Climate Change EnergyEnvironment and Water (DCCEEW)has teamed up with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through Project Management Jülich (PtJ) to administer HyGATE.
The objective of HyGATE which opened in March 2022is to strengthen Australian-German cooperation on reducing the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable sources and to stimulate the innovation process in both countries.
ARENA and PtJ have awarded conditional offers of funding to the following projects:
| Company (Australian lead applicant) | Company (German lead applicant) | Project Name | ARENA Funding (AUD) | BMBF Funding (EUR) |
| ATCO Australia | Fraunhofer IST | ScaleH2 | $0.8 million | €4.7 million |
| Hysata | Fraunhofer IPT | High-efficiency ‘Capillary-fed’ Electrolyser Pilot Project | $8.98 million | €5.9 million |
| Edify Energy | Siemens Energy Global GmbH | Edify Green Hydrogen Project | $20.74 million | €16.4 million |
| Vast Solar | Fichtner GmbH | Solar Methanol | $19.48 million | €13.2 million |
HyGATE brings together Australian and German industry and research partners to deliver new hydrogen projects with the projects primarily occurring in Australia.
Organisations that have received funding through ARENA and PtJ have been chosen based on their ability to deliver on one or more of the specified outcomes of the funding round including:
- Demonstrating highly innovative technology across the value chain of renewable hydrogen.
- Reducing the cost of hydrogen production transport storage and use and supporting the commercial viability of renewable hydrogen.
- Developing an Australian-German supply-chain for renewable hydrogen.
- Encouraging cross-country collaboration and knowledge sharing between Australian and German organisations.
- Providing price discovery and transparency in relation to the current and projected economics for renewable hydrogen technologies.
The Australia-Germany Hydrogen Accord announced in June 2021builds on the respective strengths of the two countries. Australia has the potential to be a world leader in the production and export of clean hydrogen and Germany holds expertise in hydrogen technology and is planning to import significant quantities of hydrogen in the future.
Funding for this initiative is now closed.
