ITM Power Plc (LON:ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, has today announced the formation of ITM Power Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in Australia to develop the market for ITM Power’s rapid response electrolyser technology. Dr. Neil Thompson has been appointed Managing Director (“MD”) of the newly formed company. ITM Power is also pleased to announce membership of Hydrogen Mobility Australia (www.hydrogenmobilityaustralia.com.au).
About the Hydrogen Market in Australia
Australia is now the world’s second-largest LNG exporter and is building momentum to develop a similar export market for hydrogen. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), an Australian government agency established to accelerate Australia’s shift to secure, affordable and reliable renewable energy, announced in May 2017 that exporting renewable energy (in the form of hydrogen, ammonia or embodied in processed raw materials), will form one of its four core investment priorities.
Gas Vision 2050, a report published by gas industry stakeholders in Australia, this year, highlighted the enormous potential of the gas network for energy storage, noting “Australia’s gas infrastructure can store the same amount of energy as 6 billion (13.5kWh) Powerwall batteries.” Converting the unused energy generated by renewables into hydrogen by power to gas technology thereby avoids the cost of new batteries.
On 8 September 2017 the South Australian Government announced A Hydrogen Roadmap for South Australia, where Jay Weatherill, the Premier of South Australia said “This nation-leading strategy sets out clear pathways to capitalise on South Australia’s competitive advantages and accelerate the State’s transition to a clean, safe and sustainable producer, consumer and exporter of hydrogen.” The South Australian 2017-2018 State Budget has already taken the first steps towards accelerating the take-up of hydrogen as an alternative transport fuel with the creation of a A$150m Renewable Energy Fund that can provide loans and grants to eligible projects including hydrogen storage, with a further A$8.2m allocated to the first stage of the Hydrogen Roadmap that will fund a trial of six hydrogen fuel cell buses for use by Adelaide Metro, as well as the supporting hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure.”
About Dr. Neil Thompson
Dr. Neil Thompson is an experienced Executive Director who prior to joining ITM Power was Managing Director / Principal Risk Mitigation Consultant at Pine River Business Planning as a Member of the Institute of Management Consultants servicing the consulting engineering and clean technology sectors. Neil started his career as an electrical engineering cadet in the Australian power industry in the 1980s before moving to radiation processing systems for the aerospace and automotive industries across the Americas, Europe and the APAC region. Neil was National Manager- Renewable Energy Systems at Yuasa Corporation; European Union Business Manager- Automotive at EGR Group and Asia Pacific Business Manager- Radiation Systems at Iwasaki Electric Corporation. In 2003 he established a private strata energy company, Silver Energy Pty Ltd that was then sold to the listed construction company, Devine Limited. Neil holds a PhD in systems engineering from QUT, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from USQ and an Associate Diploma in Electrical Power Engineering from the Queensland Institute of Technology (now QUT).
Contract update
The Company currently has £31.2m of projects under contract and a further £10.5m of contracts in the final stages of negotiation constituting a total of £41.7m (across all geographies), subject to exchange rate variations.
ITM Power Plc CEO, Dr Graham Cooley, said: “We are delighted to announce the formation of ITM Power Pty Ltd and the appointment of Dr Neil Thompson as the MD of the newly formed company. Australia is an exciting new market for green hydrogen production and we are delighted to make this important first step to allow ITM Power to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities and accelerating momentum in the hydrogen sector in Australia.”
ITM Power Pty Ltd MD, Dr Neil Thompson, said: “I have been collaborating with ITM Power to develop a market entry strategy for Australia for a number of months, having first interacted with the Company ten years ago. I am therefore delighted to be appointed as MD of the newly-formed Australian subsidiary and I look forward to developing the business in this exciting new market.”
