Project Aim, Scope & Background
The Danish Australian partnership on Green Hydrogen Value Chains has been established in 2024 to foster closer collaboration between renowned researchers and industry cluster organizations from Denmark (DK) and Australia (AUS), focusing primarily on green hydrogen and power-to-x (PtX) value chains. The partnership supports a strategic alignment between two countries being on the forefront of the green transition of society at large and have made commitments to reduce CO2/GHG emissions (70% within 2030, net zero emissions by 2050) paving the way for substantial investments in infrastructure for production and logistics of green hydrogen and renewable fuels.
Specific instances of this include for example DK investments in offshore wind and photovoltaic energy (PV) capacity, hydrogen infrastructure and commitment of key industry players such as MAERSK to the green energy transition, underlined by recent ordering of ships with dual fuel engines capable of operating on green methanol. In South AUS, the state government recently committed AUD$593 mill. to building a world leading 250MW green hydrogen power station, electrolysis and storage facility by December 2025
A core focus of the network will be to create synergies across research and innovation projects conducted by the participating DK and AUS institutions and their industrial partners. Researchers from University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Flinders University (FU) & University of Adelaide (UA) are currently engaged in creating the future green hydrogen value chains with industrial partners. Current DK activities for example aim at developing prototype digital twin models for simulation and optimization of hydrogen / PtX manufacturing and supply chains. Such digital twins can support decisions on design of plants or configuration of value chains as well as recommend how to plan daily operations based on price and availability of green electricity, customer demand, capacity and inventory constraints and needs for integration with grid and energy systems. The digital twins ensure competitiveness, low cost and delivery performance for the future Ptx plants / value chains and have immense potential for the industry. The planned network will thus become a pioneering force in the green energy transition, contributing substantially to the goals of the two countries and participating partners.
This partnership is key in building a stronger collaboration between Denmark and Australia and it is a great addition to the general strategic partnership which was signed in July 2023 by the Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese and the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen – for more information: Australia-Denmark Strategic Partnership Arrangement - Vilnius, 11 July 2023 | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (dfat.gov.au) (external link)
Project Duration and Funding
The initial project runs from spring 2024 until spring 2026 and has received funding support from the The Danish Ministry for Science and Education and the Global Innovation Network Programme (GINP).
Project Partners
The project initially consists of the following partners:
- University of Southern Denmark (Project leader)
- Flinders University (external link)
- Adelaide University (external link)
- Energy Cluster Denmark (external link)
- South Australian Hydrogen Hubs (external link)
Project Activities
The GINP project has so far planned the following series activities that lay a strong foundation for sustained collaboration, with high relevance to public and private external stakeholders in DK and AUS:
- Visits, Industry and Policy seminars in both countries paving the way for knowledge exchange. See link to the first Seminar 24th September 2024 in Adelaide (weblink)
- Research and Publication Workshops in both countries aimed at aligning research and innovation efforts as well as fostering development of joint projects in the future, eventually contributing to industrial innovation and the global body of knowledge in the renewable energy and PtX field.
- Exchange of Ph.D. / Post Doc. Researchers in the coming years promoting a diverse, holistic and global research and innovation perspective. This activity will be co-funded via other grants and university resources.
- Joint summer Schools on the topic of Green Hydrogen and PtX value chains targeting selected European (primarily DK) and Oceania (primarily AUS) graduate and postgraduate students.
These activities are expected to contribute to the overall aim and mission of the GINP project, and should foster a cooperative, mutually beneficial environment conducive to innovation and growth in this field as well as sustained collaboration beyond the life of this project. The network thus becomes directly relevant to the needs and challenges faced by industry and society in the decade(s) to come.
Project Team and Organization
For further information about the project, please reach out to the following partner contacts:
- Niels Gorm Maly Rytter, Head of Section, Engineering Operations Management, University of Southern Denmark, ngry@iti.sdu.dk - +4529103729
- Ali Khosravi, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Denmark, alkh@sdu.dk
- Yohanes Kristianto Nugruho, Associate Professor, Engineering Operations Management, University of Southern Denmark, ykn@iti.sdu.dk
- Tim van Erp, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University, Australia, tim.vanerp@flinders.edu.au
- Melissa Jane Nursey-Bray, Professor, Deputy Director ISER, Adelaide University, Australia, melissa.nursey-bray@adelaide.edu.au
- Katie Woite, Business Manager, South Australian Hydrogen Hubs, Kate.Woite@sah2h.org
- Nikoline Bak, Energy Cluster Denmark, nba@energycluster.dk
- Ronnie Dalsgaard, Sector Expert, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark in Australia – rondal@um.dk