MUSCAT: Hysata, the Australian manufacturer of electrolyers billed as among the world’s most efficient, foresees a significantly enlarged role for itself in Oman’s emerging green hydrogen industry, far bigger than first envisaged when Oman Investment Authority (OIA) announced an investment in the tech startup earlier this year.
Reflecting this augmented role, high-level officials representing Hysata and its strategic partners, attended the inaugural GH2 Investor Day held here last by Hydrom, the orchestrator of Oman’s green hydrogen industry.
Hysata is among an expanding portfolio of international manufacturers of electrolyzers that Oman is currently engaging with to help secure its massive requirement of electrolyzers necessary to achieve its ambitious green hydrogen production targets. An estimated 5,200 electrolyzers — critical systems that use renewable electricity to split water into green hydrogen and oxygen — will be required to support the country’s green energy strategy over the next 25 years.
Eager to secure access to world-leading electrolyzer technologies in this regard, OIA, through its venture capital arm IDO Investments, participated in a key funding round launched by Hysata in May this year. Leading the investment round were BP Ventures and Templewater, with backing coming from existing major investors and other strategic investors as well.
Hysata is credited with developing new high-efficiency electrolyzers designed to produce green hydrogen at scale with higher energy efficiency and lower costs than alternative technologies. The company’s innovative technology combines engineering and science in a unique capillary-fed alkaline electrolyser that uses less energy to convert water to hydrogen.
The Australian firm was represented at the Hydrom Investor Day event by its Chief Commercial Officer, Daniel Tas Sandermann. He was joined by representatives from Templewater, a Hong Kong-based alternative investment firm, which has also invested in Hysata.
Commenting on a much-anticipated role for Hysata in supporting Oman’s electrolyzer needs, the company said in a post: “Oman has the makings to be a global sustainability leader, featuring impressive renewable capacity for wind and solar, ambitious hydrogen programmes and an attractive location for manufacturing. Australia can be the home of electrolyser manufacturing, but the ambition of governments like Oman, matched with attractive policy for onshoring electrolyser manufacturing is a good reminder of the fierce global competition in this sector.”
Also auguring well for an invigorated role for Hysata in Oman is its newly announced strategic partnerships with South Korean steel giant POSCO and its subsidiary POSCO Eco & Challenge aimed at boosting green hydrogen production efficiency. The pact has potentially beneficial implications for Oman, particularly in relation to POSCO’s key role in a consortium that has been awarded a major land block to produce green hydrogen here in the Sultanate of Oman.
POSCO, together with global low carbon energy developer ENGIE, are leading a multinational consortium that plans to invest around $7 billion in a green hydrogen project planned at Al Duqm. Envisaged at the upstream end are 5 GW of renewable capacity supported by battery energy storage capacity (BESS) aimed at producing 200 kilotonnes of green hydrogen per annum. This hydrogen will be piped to downstream facilities in the Special Economic Zone at Al Duqm where it will be processed into 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of green ammonia by 2030.
“Hysata looks forward to continuing to grow our partnership with Oman as it progresses its green hydrogen goals,” the company added in its post.
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