At HydGene Renewables, we believe the Ag sector can be a key driver in the supply of green hydrogen. Using excess farm residues, our technology can generate hydrogen on site and on demand, allowing a farmer to secure their own needs for electricity and fuel; and at the same time, showcase the potential of our green hydrogen technology for larger scale hydrogen users such as those producing fertiliser. Participating at the conference confirmed to us that the Ag sector faces many challenges with the most pressing ones being the changing climate as well as the unstable and volatile electricity, gas and fertiliser markets. We believe farmers are one of the most adaptable and innovative business sectors in Australia to address these challenges.
So what's holding up hydrogen on the farm and why is this of interest?
Most green hydrogen production technologies (based on renewables powering an electrolyser) are not commercial and readily available today. Emerging renewable to hydrogen electrolysis technology also needs a lot of space to generate the hydrogen cheap enough. This can mean there is competition for land with cropping or grazing - so it's not really attractive to the ag sector when land-use is driving the decision process.
Regardless, the ag sector would greatly benefit from hydrogen if it can be produced on site.
Firstly, hydrogen can be used for continuous or on-demand power generation to back-up the grid or other renewables, or to run the farm completely off-grid. It can replace diesel generators.
Second, hydrogen can be injected into diesel engines to reduce diesel consumption (and costs and emissions) and once available, hydrogen can be used to run hydrogen specialised machinery with high fuel consumption such as trucks and harvesters, which can't be run on electric batteries.
And also, albeit some time away, hydrogen production on-site can be used to decentralise fertiliser production through implementation of hydrogen-to-ammonia systems on farms. Essentially, the farmer can 'self-service' their electricity, fuel, and fertiliser needs with farm residues alone when using our technology.
This sounds all too good - how then do we get hydrogen on farms?
HydGene's technology uses existing farm residues for making green and low-cost hydrogen. Our technology does not compete for land. We reduce waste on the farm and also provide a 'digestate' by-product that can be put back into the ground as an organic fertiliser and soil conditioner. A true circular economy solution with economic benefits.
Our tech is working now in a controlled environment. We are looking for pilot partners to trial our tech in the field. Please contact us if you are interested to collaborate with us and learn from the many benefits of hydrogen first hand.
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