Australia’s Ampol to invest in developing green hydrogen

Ampol Limited, formerly known as Caltex Australia, an independent Australian company and a market leader in transport fuels, will invest at least AUD100 million (USD77.12 million) in developing new fuels over the next five years, including green hydrogen. Ampol’s strategy includes plans to reach net zero carbon emissions at its operations by 2040. 

Ampol has joined CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and Main Sequence, a venture firm founded by CSIRO, to support the launch of a new Australian clean energy storage startup Endua. The company will develop and deliver hydrogen-powered energy storage that is sustainable, reliable and affordable to key industries across Australia. Endua will be based at and further develop the technology at Ampol’s Brisbane site.

Endua was formed under Main Sequence’s venture science model, which starts by identifying a global challenge, and brings together science and industry to solve it. The hydrogen-powered solution has the capacity to replace diesel generators used extensively across key industries in remote locations. The technology will make it possible for regional communities, towns and industries like mines and remote infrastructure to become self-sustaining from the grid, using only renewables.

Ampol is backing Endua as part of its Future Energy and Decarbonisation Strategy. Ampol will bring industry and customer knowledge to help develop, test and commercialise the technology, leveraging the increasing need for low carbon off-grid alternative energy solutions among its base of ~80,000 business-to-business (B2B) customers in Australia. 

Managing Director and CEO Matthew Halliday said Ampol is committed to extending its customer value proposition by finding and developing new energy solutions that will assist customers with energy transition. 

“We acknowledge that the energy mix will change and we are partnering with emerging technology providers like Endua to build and deliver new solutions for our customers.

“Ampol is well-positioned to develop and leverage Endua’s technology through our existing customer base and to work with our partners to explore broader applications in other parts of the economy,” said Halliday.

Endua will build clean power generation and storage in a modular power bank that can drive power loads of up to 150kW in a single pack. The company will use new electrolysis technology developed at CSIRO to produce hydrogen within the device to deliver renewable energy in a cost-effective way when compared to diesel generators.

Endua CEO Paul Sernia, an established entrepreneur and electric mobility expert, said that as the market moves to 100% renewables, new solutions will be required.

“Hydrogen will play a crucial role in the energy transition and our hydrogen power generation and storage solution will offer a reliable renewable power solution in remote locations. Ampol, along with our other partners, will play a key role in helping to commercialise and deliver this solution to industries across Australia and globally,” Sernia said.

Sales of Endua’s power bank technology will initially focus on the off-grid diesel generator market, which accounts for AUD1.5 billion (USD1.16 billion) of diesel fuel and 200,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.