A $49 million Australian Government investment will help Hysata scale its Port Kembla electrolyser manufacturing operations, giving the Illawarra a larger role in the emerging clean-energy equipment supply chain.
The funding, announced on 18 September through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, will support a $98 million manufacturing scale-up project built around Hysata’s Australian-developed capillary-fed electrolyser technology.
The project will establish a commercial-scale production line with an initial capacity of 50 megawatts a year. The facility is designed to increase to as much as 200MW a year through continuous operations if customer demand supports further expansion.
That makes the announcement more than another hydrogen research grant. It moves an Australian-developed technology further into industrial manufacturing, where repeatable production, quality systems, supplier capacity and customer delivery become as important as laboratory performance.
From research project to manufacturing business
Hysata’s technology originated from research at the University of Wollongong. The company says its capillary-fed system is designed to use less electricity than conventional electrolysers, addressing one of the largest operating costs in renewable hydrogen production.
That efficiency matters commercially because lower electricity consumption can improve the economics of hydrogen in hard-to-abate industries such as steelmaking, chemicals, shipping and heavy transport.
The ARENA-backed program also includes early commercial megawatt-scale deployments, giving the company operating experience and customer data at a larger scale.
A supplier opportunity for the Illawarra
The manufacturing scale-up creates opportunities beyond the electrolyser producer itself. Precision fabrication, electrical systems, automation, controls, testing, logistics and specialist engineering are all areas where a growing clean-technology manufacturer can generate recurring demand.
Port Kembla is also strategically important. The Illawarra combines a deep industrial workforce, major port infrastructure and an established steelmaking base, while the region is increasingly being targeted for clean-energy manufacturing and infrastructure investment.
The project therefore sits at the intersection of two policy objectives: decarbonising heavy industry and retaining more of the manufacturing value created by the energy transition inside Australia.
The next test is orders
Public funding lowers the barrier to building manufacturing capacity but does not remove commercial risk. The next proof point will be sustained customer demand, particularly from large industrial users prepared to deploy electrolyser systems at commercial scale.
If Hysata can translate its efficiency claims into competitive delivered costs and reliable field performance, the Port Kembla line could become an export platform as well as a domestic manufacturing asset.
The broader significance for Australian industry is equally clear. Much of the economic value in the energy transition will sit not only in renewable generation, but in the equipment, components, software and industrial systems required to build it. Hysata’s scale-up is one attempt to keep more of that value in Australia.
Sources: Australian Renewable Energy Agency, 18 September 2026; Department of Industry ministerial release, 18 September 2026.
Featured image: Billy Joachim / Unsplash.
