Progress on hydrogen fuelling at the Viva Energy Hub has been steady since construction began in April.
This article first appeared on Prime Mover (https://primemovermag.com.au/hub-spoke) and has been adapted for the Viva Energy Driven blog with permission.
One of a suite of projects at the Viva Energy Hub in Geelong, the hydrogen refuelling site is set to feature energies for both traditional and emerging technologies. Products on offer will include diesel, hydrogen refuelling and EV charging.
Scheduled to open early 2025, the hydrogen refuelling station has four major partners on board - Toll, Cleanaway, Barwon Water and local bus fleet ComfortDelGro Corporation (CDC).
Hydrogen refuelling is projected to play a role in the broader energy transition particularly for heavy transport operators actively looking to reduce their Scope 1 emissions.
From a business standpoint Viva Energy is technology agnostic according to Rhys Moore, Commercial Lead – Hydrogen and EV.
“Our priority is to help our customers in any way we can, be that EV charging, or supplying them with biofuels, renewable diesel and hydrogen,” he says.
“We see all of these products playing a role in the broader energy mix. But we think hydrogen has some great potential in that really difficult to decarbonise sector of the transport market, where heavy payloads and long distances are part of the job.”
As it looks to support Australia’s broader energy transition, Viva Energy understands there are several business challenges that must be overcome on the decarbonisation front.
“Concurrent to that, we have a large customer base that faces similar decarbonisation challenges,” says Rhys. “Large and small transport and everything in between are a big part of our transport fuels and lubricants customer portfolio.”
Increasingly, these customers across the transport, marine and aviation segments are coming to Viva Energy to discuss their energy transition plans.
Commonly this revolves around the energy they need to match their technology footprint as well as offering carbon neutral fuels that require no technology change. Viva Energy is able to supply a full suite of energy needs to help them achieve their emission reduction goals.
Hydrogen refuelling at the Viva Energy Hub is a first of its kind in the Australian market.
Other hydrogen refuelling depots currently in the market are found typically in industrial precincts and require security access whereas the Viva Energy site will be publicly accessible 24/7. Another unique feature of the hydrogen refuelling station is that hydrogen production will happen on site.
Viva Energy will generate hydrogen using a 2.5-megawatt electrolyser taking renewable energy from the grid and recycled water supplied by Barwon Water.
According to Rhys, having 2.5 megawatts of capacity will enable Viva Energy to generate a thousand kilograms of hydrogen per day.
“Really the cornerstone of the project is to be able to replicate as closely as possible today’s diesel’s refuelling profile,” he says. “While the speeds aren’t exactly like refuelling a truck from a diesel perspective, they’re getting pretty close.”
On average the site is aiming to deliver a 30-kilogram hydrogen truck-fill in 8-10 minutes.
Even more uniquely, the system will have the ability to refuel multiple vehicles back-to-back.
Over the course of a two-hour period up to ten trucks on an average of 30 kilograms of hydrogen can fuel up.
“That’s right at the edge of where the technology is currently,” says Rhys.
“As far as speeds goes, the hydrogen station does have the capacity to do both 350bar refuelling and 700bar refuelling.”
The site was initially designed only for 350bar, the pressure rating at which the hydrogen is discharged into a vehicle.
That’s the optimal rating to capture a broad range of back-to-base hydrogen vehicles, such as busses, waste trucks and smaller prime movers.
When Viva Energy saw there were some heavy vehicle suppliers potentially moving into the market that required 700bar, they pivoted the project scope to support a greater offering within the market.
“We made the decision to tailor to both options so it gives our customers full flexibility when they’re selecting a vehicle, they know that they can come and get it either at 350bar or 700bar,” says Rhys. “We want an offering for anyone participating in hydrogen fuel cell vehicle deployment.”
On that front, the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo passenger vehicles both require 700bar as a standard fuel cell refuelling capability in addition to some of the latest hydrogen fuel cell trucks.
Construction is progressing well. The canopy is now up on site as well as critical infrastructure like the 2.5-megawatt proton exchange membrane (PEM), the Air Liquide refuelling equipment, the compression equipment and storage equipment required to make the refuelling happen.
“That’s been pretty significant itself because to bring those items into the country there was quite a long lead time,” says Rhys.
“We got on the front foot very early and placed those orders with our suppliers for those key pieces of equipment.”
Ahead of the official commissioning event, a date likely to happen by the end of Q1 2025, Viva Energy will work closely with its project partners when the vehicles are available to come in and test the system.
From there, it’s about ensuring that everything is in order before the ribbon is cut and the site is opened to the broader public. The greater goal is to make the site as user-friendly as possible for the heavy vehicle market.
At present, Toll plans on operating two hydrogen-powered prime movers from the site.
Cleanaway will match that with two hydrogen-powered waste trucks. CDC will operate two hydrogen powered busses in the local community and Barwon Water are also deploying a hydrogen prime mover for biosolids waste transportation in the local area.
Viva Energy expects to announce additional partners in the future. Located on the Princes Highway, the hydrogen refuelling station has 22,000m² of operational footprint that includes not only the electrolyser, switch rooms, the refuelling canopy, swept paths for egress and ingress in addition to 350kw EV side-by-side fast chargers that are located further along on the forecourt.
There will also be an amenities block.
“Buses, trucks, and cars for that matter, can pull up like they would at a petrol bowser and refuel their vehicle with hydrogen,” says Rhys.
“From a broader hydrogen market perspective, we will also have the capacity to sell bulk hydrogen from the facility.”
A bulk hydrogen gantry will be used to service tube trailers.
For transport operators interested in having hydrogen at their depot in Melbourne, they will be able to pick it up from the hydrogen refuelling station and deploy hydrogen for direct use from their own location.
It’s a positive development, according to Rhys, that Viva Energy has the capacity to be able to service passenger vehicles as well.
That in itself represents an opportunity to further explore once they’ve gone live with the project and people can see, touch and feel it.
“We’ve been focused on this being a really pleasing experience for our customers in the heavy transport market,” says Rhys.
“We want this to be a showcase for hydrogen and the possibilities it can unlock in the Australian market for zero emission transport and that’s where we’ve been focusing all of our attention.”