About Us

HERC offers a variety of research, development, deployment and consultation services to help industry achieve exceptional results. Our world-first industry-led hydrogen research centre delivers a competitive edge to our partners in this sector, which gains ever-increasing international importance.

Leverage our resources and knowledge to gain innovative and efficient energy solutions. From fundamental science and engineering, to full product prototyping, benchmarking and certification, or even if you just need a bit of expert advice, our team has you covered.

HERC's core offerings include

Hydrogen energy ecosystems research and development.
Hydrogen feasibility studies and consulting services.
System integration evaluation and system design studies.
Economic value-add to industries and companies.
Setting new global standards in hydrogen technologies.
Testing and certification of hydrogen equipment to AU/NZ, JIS, ASTM, EU standards.
Training of the future hydrogen workforce.
Collaboration with industry partners in execution of commercial RD&D projects.

Get in touch with us to discover how you can benefit from hydrogen technology

Key Technology Areas and Applications

HERC is hard at work every day researching all aspects of hydrogen energy across the value chain. Our vision is cast from hydrogen generation to its storage, distribution and use at various scales. From individuals, to household, commercial, and national levels, HERC has hydrogen covered. Our extensive team has expertise in engineering, materials development, systems modelling/simulation, forecasting and consumer market analyses, scaling up production and deployment of technologies.

As hydrogen is a flexible and versatile energy carrier, with the capability to act as a fuel or generate electricity and heat, it can be utilised in multiple ways. Our translational research and development solutions focus on four key areas.

Integrated Hydrogen Power Supply Solutions (kilowatt scale)

Integrated hydrogen power supply solutions are resolutions that contain everything you need to generate, store and use hydrogen energy within a single unit. This includes an electrolyser to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen, a water purifier to ensure this water is free from impurities, a hydrogen storage solution, and a fuel cell to convert hydrogen back into electricity, with water vapour as the only by-product. These technologies involve the generation of electricity at kW scales.

Example applications include:

Residential Energy Storage Systems, such as LAVO™
Telecommunications
Defense
Events

Consumer Power Solutions

HERC is developing portable hydrogen technology that can power the devices in your daily life and in your day-to-day business activities. We envision a future where hydrogen batteries exist that are compact, safe, durable and environmentally friendly, with the capacity to power portable devices for weeks - or even years! - before requiring a charge.

Example applications include:

Bicycles
Electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones and laptops)
Power banks
Robots and drones
Devices in the Internet of Things

HERC Technology Roadmap

Large Scale Hydrogen Power Supply Solutions (megawatt scale)

At an industrial/community scale, the generation and use of hydrogen energy may require larger MW scale solutions. This includes electrolysers, fuel cells and hydrogen storage solutions, which can also be deployed as separate components. These larger scale systems will be essential for the global hydrogen economy. They will enable the generation of hydrogen at locations with abundant renewable energy resources, and the use/transport/export of that hydrogen anywhere it is required.

Example applications include:

Microgrid with heat and power for small cities
Powering remote areas
Agribusiness
Power generation

Hydrogen Heat Combustion

Aside from producing electricity within a fuel cell, hydrogen can also be used to produce heat for both residential and industrial purposes. As heating is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to the use of hydrogen has the potential to significantly combat climate change. HERC is leading the charge in developing safe ways of using hydrogen for heat.

Example applications include:

Barbecues
Water boiler
Home heating
Industrial heating

Learn more about our R&D

Some of the Benefits of Partnering with HERC

Access to the Centre's world-class facilities and labs

Industry recognition through association with a world-class centre of excellence

Regular updates and access to results of all HERC Board Generic Projects

Networking opportunities with companies along the hydrogen value chain.

Become a Partner

Meet the team who make up the Hydrogen Energy Research Centre

Our centre consists of academics, researchers, and experts from across the university and within industry, supported and driven by a small operational team led by the Centre Directors

Discover our team

Perfectly positioned to drive change while achieving positive impact to society

The Hydrogen Energy Research Centre will be a world leader in renewable hydrogen driven and energy grid connected hydrogen generation and utilisation.

Explore our vision