Supporting Australia’s energy transition

Over the past five years, the proportion of Australia’s electricity that comes from renewables has almost doubled. However, electricity generation remains Australia’s largest CO₂-emitting sector, accounting for approximately one third of CO₂ emissions in 2022-23.

With Australia committed to being 43% below 2005 emissions levels by 2030, there is significant demand for swift take-up of energy innovations across all sectors.

The green hydrogen industry is one such innovation. Hydrogen is predicted to be a major export opportunity for Australia over the coming decades, with export demand forecast to be millions of tonnes annually by 2040.

NMI Australia is undertaking a wide range of work supporting the emerging hydrogen fuel industry, from developing new primary standards for hydrogen gas flow and purity through to facilities to enable the emerging domestic rollout of hydrogen-powered vehicles.

We are also developing new capabilities to target emerging industry needs, including:

·   Metering renewably generated hydrogen co-injected into existing gas networks

·   Calibration of flowmeters used for anhydrous ammonia

·   Calibration of flowmeters to ensure the efficiency and safe operation of electrolysers used to generate hydrogen from surplus solar and wind energy

·   Calibration of pressure sensors to extreme levels above 900 Bar (the operating pressure of driveway automotive hydrogen dispensers) to enable commercial providers to service hydrogen support infrastructure

·   Development of techniques to efficiently calibrate and verify the hydrogen dispensers used for filling buses, trucks and cars: such as PVTt, gravimetric and Coriolis meters

·   Ensuring a fit-for-purpose implementation of the legal metrology custody transfer framework to hydrogen

·   Development of standards for hydrogen purity and gas composition, for both hydrogen co-injection and fuel-cell vehicles.

NMIA’s Physical Metrology, Chemical and Biological Metrology, and Legal Metrology teams welcome opportunities to collaborate on projects supporting the future energy sector.

NMIA Gas Reference Mixtures Director Damian Smeulders working with industry 

at Australia’s first hydrogen refuelling station for heavy transport vehicles.

Contact: Dr Mark Ballico

E-mail: Mark.Ballico@measurement.gov.au