Australia’s renewable-energy agency has awarded A$15 million to Hadean Energy for a A$30 million project testing hydrogen production for steelmaking.
ARENA’s 5 November announcement says the pilot plant would be built and operated in Victoria, subject to final deployment arrangements and approvals. Hydrogen would be supplied to a separate industrial facility for steel-manufacturing processes.
The planned plant is expected to produce up to 7 kilograms of hydrogen an hour and supply about 85% of the hydrogen required for an annealing process.
Hadean estimates its technology could use around 30% less electricity than conventional electrolysers. That is a company projection to be tested through the demonstration, not a verified saving from a commercial fleet.
The technology originated at CSIRO. The project is intended to test performance in an industrial setting and improve the evidence for later commercial deployment; the grant announcement does not establish a full-scale steelworks conversion.
Source: ARENA announcement, 5 November 2026.
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Illustrative Australian industrial file photograph: BlueScope steelworks at Port Kembla, New South Wales, 13 February 2009. This is not Hadean’s proposed Victorian pilot or its customer facility. Marek Ślusarczyk / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Resized.
Compiled by Energy People with AI assistance from linked sources.
