Victoria grants A$7mn for renewable hydrogen

The government of Victoria has announced A$7mn ($5.1mn) funding to harness renewable hydrogen to clean up heavy transport, buses and industry, it said on January 14.

Some A$6.6mn is being provided through the Renewable Hydrogen Commercialisation Pathways Fund to support six projects that will see Victoria produce and use renewable hydrogen in real-world applications.

Volgren Australia will develop two commercial-grade hydrogen fuel cell electric buses for trials in Dandenong, while Viva Energy will develop a hydrogen refuelling station to co-locate with EV charging in a public New Energies service station.

Air Liquide and Energys Australia will develop renewable hydrogen production facilities for transport while Boundary Power will develop an Australian-first −solar-renewable hydrogen standalone power system.

The Boundary Power system will convert solar power into hydrogen and use that hydrogen to generate electricity during power outages or in remote areas that are not served by the grid.

Telstra received funding to deploy a renewable hydrogen fuel cell generator at regional mobile communication sites, to strengthen the grid and remove the reliance on fossil fuels generators.

More than A$800,000 will be shared by eight recipients through the Renewable Hydrogen Business Ready Fund to develop business cases or feasibility studies to support their transition to renewable hydrogen, the government said.