Industry cluster to help Australia be a global force in hydrogen

National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) has announced an industry-led hydrogen cluster, aimed at making Australia a global hydrogen leader, creating centres of excellence in hydrogen technology and research.

The Hydrogen Industry Cluster will drive crucial collaboration across the emerging hydrogen value chain, building the scale and capabilities of existing industry start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs, and further leveraging and developing their technologies that will sustain a clean, innovative, competitive and safe hydrogen industry.

The cluster will also connect cluster members with leading Australian research organisations, supporting the commercialisation of their IP in Australia, creating high-value jobs, securing investment and ultimately supporting hydrogen exports driven by a world-leading hydrogen supply chain of technology solutions and services.

The announcement of the Hydrogen Industry Cluster and NERA’s role forms a key part of the National Hydrogen Strategy released by the Council for Australian Governments (COAG).

NERA CEO Miranda Taylor said as the country’s independent Industry Growth Centre for energy resources, NERA welcomes the release of the National Hydrogen Strategy and will continue to support Australian governments harness this significant opportunity for Australia’s energy future.

“While the global hydrogen economy is still embryonic, action is needed now to ensure Australia captures the significant opportunity to help shape the production and use of hydrogen and become a leading source of hydrogen knowledge and solutions,” she said. “Now is the time to connect and build our underlying hydrogen knowledge economy, and help our local innovators overcome barriers to market activation through collaboration between industry, governments, researchers, innovators and SMEs.

“Through this cluster formation, we are uniquely positioned to build on Australia’s existing LNG knowledge, technological capabilities and infrastructure to tap into existing innovator networks to ensure that Australia is a major player in a global hydrogen industry by 2030, including emerging opportunities to be a supplier to markets in Asia.”

The announcement continues NERA’s history of facilitating and funding the formation and development of two industry-led, energy-related clusters — a subsea oil and gas cluster (Subsea Innovation Cluster Australia (SICA)) and an ocean energy cluster (Australian Ocean Energy Group (AOEG).

Cluster development forms a key part of NERA’s national initiatives that are supporting sector-wide transformational change and the development of a smart, high-value, digital and export-focused supply chain. Together these activities can unlock more than $10 billion of new value for the Australian economy.

The National Hydrogen Strategy has been developed by Australian governments to create the necessary social and regulatory framework that allows the hydrogen industry to expand, and sets out the foundations needed for Australian businesses to develop a vibrant hydrogen industry that benefits all Australians, while meeting safety and community standards. The aim of the strategy is to:

• build a clean, innovative and competitive hydrogen industry
• position Australia’s hydrogen industry as a major global player by 2030
• coordinate the approach to projects that support hydrogen industry development.
   

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