Rio Tinto has approved a new solar farm and battery storage at Weipa in Queensland, in a move that will more than triple the local electricity network’s solar generation capacity and help provide cleaner power to Rio Tinto’s operations. The Weipa operations in Far North Queensland includes three bauxite mines,... Read more →
The technology group Wärtsilä will supply a 9.2 MW / 8.7 MWh energy storage system to Zenith Energy, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Australia. Zenith sells the electrical power it produces to some of the world’s largest mining companies with operations in Australia. The installed energy storage system will... Read more →
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation will deliver 20 units of the all-electric eCanter truck to the Australia Post fleet. In October, Australia Post will become the first local customer to integrate the electric light-duty truck into its daily operations. Australia Post is a government business enterprise providing postal services... Read more →
Researchers from the Monash Energy Institute, with colleagues from CSIRO, have used a saccharide-based binder system to develop a durable sulfur cathode with minimal polysulfide escape in a lithium-sulfur battery. The saccharide-based binder system regulates polysulfides due to its reducing properties. The binder also promotes the formation of viscoelastic filaments... Read more →
Roy Hill, the largest single iron ore mine in Australia, has purchased Wabtec’s FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, the world’s first 100% battery-electric, heavy-haul locomotive (earlier post) for the region and the mining industry. We are committed to transforming the next generation of transportation by adopting advanced technologies that improve energy efficiency,... Read more →
Australia-based Arafura Resources Limited has awarded Hatch a contract to carry out Engineering and Procurement Services for the Nolans NdPR project hydrometallurgical plant. The Nolans project in Australia will encompass a mine, process plant (comprising beneficiation, extraction and separation plants) and related infrastructure to be constructed and located at the... Read more →
Australia-based Renascor Resources has executed a Strategic Cooperation and Offtake MOU with POSCO covering the purchase of 20,000 to 30,000 tpa of Purified Spherical Graphite (PSG) from Renascor’s planned Battery Anode Material operation in South Australia. The final annual amount to be delivered under the offtake and the term of... Read more →
Tritium, a global developer and manufacturer of DC fast chargers for EVs, and Miller Technology, a supplier of mobile mining equipment for safety and productivity, are partnering to provide fast chargers and light-duty battery EVs for the mining industry. The companies’ inaugural project at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) mine... Read more →
Rio Tinto and Sumitomo Corporation are partnering to study the construction of a hydrogen pilot plant at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone and explore the potential use of hydrogen at the refinery. The two global companies have signed a letter of intent that focuses on Yarwun as the... Read more →
The Australian state Queensland has added five Hyundai NEXO fuel cell vehicles to QFleet for a trial; they join 100 electric vehicles already in the State Government fleet and will be available to frontline health staff, educators and community workers. Support for Queensland’s hydrogen industry is a key part of... Read more →
Global Energy Ventures entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Province Resources and Total Eren (together the HyEnergy Project partners) to support a technical and commercial feasibility study on exporting green hydrogen from the HyEnergy Project, located in the Gascoyne region, in Western Australia, to nominated markets in the... Read more →
Australian energy infrastructure company Jemena and gas supply company Coregas are partnering to advance the use of green hydrogen for the transport industry in New South Wales. Under a new agreement, Jemena will produce and supply green hydrogen from its Western Sydney plant for use by transport and industrial customers... Read more →
Hyzon Motors, a global supplier of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, announced a Memorandum of Understanding to develop and to supply 20 refuse collection vehicles (RCV) together with Superior Pak, an Australian manufacturer of waste-handling equipment. The companies aim to deliver a zero-emissions, high-performance side-lift garbage truck, capable of undertaking the 1500-2000... Read more →
A new $5-million program to be led by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, is intended to strengthen development of Australia’s hydrogen industry by supporting research, development and demonstration (RD&D) collaborations with international research organisations. The two-year Hydrogen RD&D International Collaboration Program is a key element in CSIRO’s recently-launched Hydrogen Industry... Read more →
VivoPower International has entered into a binding Letter of Intent with Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Limited to create a program for the electrification of Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles using conversion kits designed and manufactured by VivoPower’s wholly-owned electric vehicle subsidiary, Tembo e-LV B.V. The binding LOI sets out the terms... Read more →
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, launched a new $68-million Hydrogen Industry Mission. The research mission is intended to help drive down the cost of hydrogen production to below $2 per kilogram, making the fuel more affordable and helping to position Australia to lead the world in exporting hydrogen by 2030.... Read more →
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has released a report that outlines the significant potential for Australia to reshape its mining sector to capitalize on its rich critical materials resources and turn them into high purity materials and products through refining and manufacturing. The Critical Energy Minerals Roadmap shows how the... Read more →
Origin Energy’s export-scale liquid hydrogen project has reached an important milestone, with the signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Port of Townsville to collaborate on the potential expansion of the port, as well as the development of a liquefaction facility, new berth and associated infrastructure. Origin is collaborating... Read more →
Toyota has commissioned Victoria’s first commercial-grade permanent hydrogen production, storage and refuelling facility at its former manufacturing site at Altona in Melbourne’s west. Hydrogen is produced on site by a 200kW electrolyzer that uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen components and has the capacity to produce up... Read more →
Australian rare earths exploration and development company RareX Limited entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the leading global rare earths producer, China-based Shenghe Resources Holdings. Shenghe, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, has a market capitalization of approximately US$4.6 billion. It is a leading producer of rare... Read more →
The government of the state of Victoria in Australia is providing more than $1 million in funding to CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, that will enable it to partner with Swinburne University of Technology to establish the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2). The $10-million VH2 project is designed to bring researchers,... Read more →
Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has released a new roadmap on key strategies for creating jobs and reclaiming billions in economic value from plastic, glass, paper and tires currently going into landfill. The National Circular Economy Roadmap found innovation is crucial to realizing Australia’s largest economic gains, which will come... Read more →
Australian mining company IGO will acquire a 24.99% stake in the Greenbushes hard-rock lithium mine and a 49% share of the Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant—both in Western Australia—from China-based Tianqi Lithium for US$1.4 billion. The deal will be funded through a combination of debt, IGO’s existing cash position (which totaled... Read more →
Australia and Germany have released national hydrogen strategies to help grow the development of renewable hydrogen as a clean source of energy. UNSW Sydney will lead a consortium of Australian research and industry partners, who will work together with partners in Germany to test the feasibility of a renewable energy-based... Read more →
Australia-based natural gas company Santos has successfully injected approximately 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide deep underground into depleted gas reservoirs as part of the final field trial for the Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project. Santos Managing Director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said the successful injection occurred earlier this... Read more →
Australia-based Bustech and Proterra announced a new collaboration to manufacture Bustech’s all-electric ZDi 12.5-meter transit bus utilizing Proterra’s battery technology platform. The partnership marks Proterra’s entry into the Australian market and will be the company’s first Proterra Powered battery electric vehicle operating outside North America. Under the partnership, Bustech will... Read more →
The Western Australia Government of Premier Mark McGowan will bring forward the Western Australian Renewable Hydrogen Strategy targets by a decade and invest $22 million to develop hydrogen supply, meet growing demand for the clean fuel and create jobs. Part of the WA Recovery Plan, the accelerated targets and nine... Read more →
Leading Australian energy infrastructure company Jemena has signed a new deal to supply Australia’s emerging zero emission vehicle industry with renewably generated green hydrogen. Jemena has committed, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hyundai Australia and Coregas, to produce and deliver hydrogen gas to Hyundai’s Macquarie Park headquarters from... Read more →
A new report from Australia’s national science agency CSIRO shows that clean hydrogen can significantly reduce aviation emissions with potential benefits seen within five years. The report, Opportunities for hydrogen in commercial aviation, which had technical input and funding from The Boeing Company, finds that growing hydrogen industry momentum could... Read more →
In a review paper published in the journal ChemSusChem, researchers from Australia’s CSIRO conclude that the combination of synthetic biology and materials chemistry will provide many viable options to allow the use of nitrogenase for energy applications, such as the production of green ammonia for use as a preferred liquid... Read more →
Australian startup H2X has launched with the mission of producing a range of hydrogen-powered hybrid vehicles targeting different applications and markets. The company was founded by a well-experienced team from the automotive and new energy field, which has been working together over more than 5 years. The core of the... Read more →
ITM Power announced the formation of the H2OzBus Project and the signing of a memorandum of understanding with a consortium of strategic partners. The consortium comprises Transit Systems, part of the SeaLink Travel Group; Ballard Power Systems; BOC Limited; Palisade Investment Partners; and ITM Power. The partners have signed a... Read more →
While there is global potential to generate renewable energy at costs already competitive with fossil fuels, a means of storing and transporting this energy at a very large scale is a roadblock to large-scale investment, development and deployment. Ammonia produced from renewables can be a viable liquid fuel replacement for... Read more →
The Australian Government has established funding to support hydrogen-powered projects. The A$300 million (US$193 million) Advancing Hydrogen Fund will be administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). As an early priority, CEFC will seek investment in projects included in the ARENA Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round. The ARENA round... Read more →
A comprehensive three-year scientific study into the air, water and soil impacts of hydraulic fracturing (HF) in coal seam gas (CSG) in Queensland, Australia has found little to no impacts on air quality, soils, groundwater and waterways. The study also found current water treatment technology used for treating water produced... Read more →
UK-based Faradion Ltd., the leader in sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery technology, has received its first order from ICM Australia for high-energy sodium-ion batteries for use in the Australian market. Faradion’s sodium-ion technology provides similar performance to conventional chemistries, while replacing expensive materials such as cobalt and lithium with far more abundant... Read more →
On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has opened the $70-million Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round to help fast track the development of renewable hydrogen in Australia. As announced in November last year, the funding round is expected to play a significant role in supporting... Read more →
Australia-based Woodside has signed an agreement with Japanese companies JERA Inc, Marubeni Corporation and IHI Corporation to undertake a joint study examining the large-scale export of hydrogen as ammonia for use decarbonizing coal-fired power generation in Japan. The consortium has received approval from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development... Read more →
In an open-acess paper published in Nature Communications, Griffith University (Australia) researchers report having enhanced the catalytic activity of CoSe2 for oxygen evolution in water splitting by incorporating both Fe dopants and Co vacancies into atomically thin CoSe2 nanobelts. CoSe2 nanobelts are ultrathin sheets made out of a lattice of... Read more →
Fortescue Metals Group and ATCO Australia have signed an agreement to explore the deployment of hydrogen vehicle fueling infrastructure in Western Australia. Under the agreement, the two parties will collaborate to build and operate a combined hydrogen production and refueling facility at ATCO’s existing facility in Jandakot in the Perth... Read more →
Rheinmetall has launched its first Australian research and technology program. Under the Autonomous Combat Warrior (ACW) program, Rheinmetall’s Australian, German and Canadian development teams will work alongside research teams from Defense Science and Technology (DST) group, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and... Read more →
A report from the Australian national science agency CSIRO has mapped the critical research steps Australia must take to realize a potential 7,600 jobs and $11 billion a year by 2050 from the burgeoning hydrogen industry. The report found investing in research could solve industry challenges to create five key... Read more →
Leading gas and engineering company BOC, a subsidiary of Linde plc, announced the commencement of a Queensland, Australia-first renewable hydrogen project at its production facility in Bulwer Island, Brisbane. The $3.1-million end-to-end renewable hydrogen supply project received $950,000 funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and is supported by... Read more →
South Australia Premier Steven Marshall released the state’s Hydrogen Action Plan, including the commitment of more than $1 million towards a study to identify optimal locations for renewable hydrogen production and export infrastructure. Premier Marshall said the export of hydrogen presents significant economic opportunity for South Australia. Minister for Energy... Read more →
On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced $15 million in funding to Evie Networks to roll out the largest ultra-fast battery electric vehicle (EV) charging network along Australia’s highways. The funding will support the first phase of the $50.2-million intercity highway charging network with... Read more →
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing $950,000 in funding for gas company BOC for a renewable hydrogen production and refueling project in Queensland. The $3.1-million pilot project will involve the installation of a 220 kW electrolyzer and a 100 kW solar array at BOC’s Bulwer Island gas facility... Read more →
Western Australia will host a national consortium to position Australia as a global leader in the manufacture and supply of batteries after a A$135-million (US$96.4-million) industry-backed research hub was supported by the Federal Government. Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, the Hon Karen Andrews, announced that the Curtin University-led... Read more →
Rio Tinto has successfully deployed AutoHaul, establishing the world’s largest robot and first automated heavy-haul, long distance rail network. (Earlier post.) The average return distance of these trains is about 800 kilometers with the average journey cycle, including loading and dumping, taking about 40 hours. Since completing the first loaded... Read more →
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, will partner with Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) on hydrogen technologies to support the development of new industries, create jobs and pave the way for low emissions export opportunities. The centerpiece of the $20-million partnership is an investment in CSIRO’s metal membrane technology, which enables ammonia... Read more →
Lithium Australia NL reported that its wholly owned subsidiary VSPC Ltd has successfully produced Li-ion battery cathode material, and Li-ion batteries (LIBs), from tri-lithium phosphate produced directly from mine waste using the SiLeach process. SiLeach background. During conventional processing, lithium is recovered only from spodumene concentrates, not lithium micas, which... Read more →