Halcyon Power Project Manager Aya Inagaki is pleased to have been elected to the board of the New Zealand Hydrogen Council.

Aya and Grant Doull (Hyundai New Zealand) join the board to replace retiring directors Andy Sinclair (Hyundai New Zealand) and Guy Waipara (Meridian Energy).

The two will join the other Board Members; Stephen Canny (Chair), Amy Barrett (Fortescue Future Industries), Andrew Clennett (Hiringa Energy), Anthony Jones (H. W. Richardson Group) and James Kilty (Powerco).

The election took place during the New Zealand Hydrogen Council’s AGM in late November.

Halcyon Power and Tūaropaki Trust (joint venture owners along with Obayashi Corporation) have stamped their mark on the inaugural Hydrogen Awards in Wellington.

The awards were presented at a gala dinner on September 7 during the H2 2 Zero Summit 2023 – the second annual summit hosted by the New Zealand Hydrogen Council.

“It was a real honour to receive the ‘Our People’ award on behalf of Tūaropaki Trust and the ‘Industry Impact’ award on behalf of Halcyon,” said the Trust’s General Manager Energy David Binnie following the evening.

“There was strong competition from an increasingly vibrant and growing sector, so this was a fantastic public recognition for our leadership and commitment over the last six years.”

The six carved trophies were presented on the night by carver Hiram Higgins. They, along with one additional taonga – a Mauri stone which will be held in the NZ Hydrogen Council offices – represent the seven waka that arrived in Aotearoa.

The awards will be presented annually, creating a legacy of winners through time.

Other nominees in the Industry Impact Award were: Global Bus Ventures, Fabrum and Meridian Energy. In the Our People Award, the Trust was a nominee alongside Fabrum.

Halcyon Power project manager Aya Inagaki was also a nominee in the Person of the Year Award.

The Our People Award recognises an organisation that connects, empowers and creates opportunity for its people through kaitiakitanga, knowledge, skills and understanding, while the Industry Impact category rewards one making a significant commercial or technical contribution to the use of hydrogen in industrial applications, including recognising collaborative partnerships.

The carvings received by the Trust and Halcyon will be displayed in Tūaropaki House until they are returned in time for next year’s summit.

Caption: Trust GM Energy David Binnie, Halcyon Power Project Manager Aya Inagaki and Obayashi Corporation General Manager Tatsuya Inokuchi at the Hydrogen Awards.

Halcyon’s joint venture parent, Tūaropaki Trust, has signed a letter of intent with dairy company Miraka and trucking firm Central Transport Limited (CTL) to establish a scalable hydrogen hub at Mōkai.

CTL is the leading freight company in the Central North Island and exclusive supplier of milk tanker transport to Miraka.

Focused on the primary sector, the collaboration aims to accelerate the development of ‘close-coupled’ production and consumption of hydrogen under circular economy principles.

The intent of the three companies is to develop a rural hydrogen hub in the Taupō rohe, initially involving end-users in dairy operations – milk collection and processing. This hub will be designed for expansion into heavy equipment and broader energy applications in agriculture, forestry and horticulture.

The hydrogen will be produced by Halcyon Power at its Mōkai plant.

At the signing in early September, Trust General Manager Energy Dave Binnie, Miraka Chief Executive Officer Karl Gradon and CTL Managing Director Brendon Cane were shown over a hydrogen powered Fuel Cell Electric 1.8 tonne Toyota forklift.

Powerpoint presentations on theory were very well, said Binnie, “but here are three companies making hydrogen work in practice, we are proud to be part of the journey.”

Miraka’s three-week trial of the forklift would be an opportunity for both Miraka and Halcyon to gather data on running and refueling the FC forklift.

The agreement and trial were further steps towards Miraka’s goal of using 100% renewable energy in its manufacturing, said Gradon.

In another hydrogen initiative, CTL is due to take delivery of a dual-fuel tanker truck by the end of the year. Dual-fuel (or mixed fuel) engines combine hydrogen with diesel for a cleaner and more efficient use of fuel.

CTL is actively seeking to reduce its carbon footprint and eventually plans to transition its fleet of 80 trucks to run fully on hydrogen.

The aspiration to create the first vertically integrated hydrogen generation and refuelling hub in Mokai is consistent with the Trust and Halcyon’s commitment to develop a viable green hydrogen supply chain in Aotearoa.

Caption: Dave Binnie, Karl Gradon and Brendon Cane signing the Letter of Intent to work together on a green hydrogen hub.

Halcyon Power Ltd will be joining the H2 2 Zero Summit being held on September 7 and 8 at Tākina in Wellington as a Gold Sponsor.

Attendees of the summit will hear from leading international and New Zealand experts who are at the forefront of advancing hydrogen initiatives as a key part of a low emissions future.

Among these will be Ken Ando, managing executive officer of Obayashi Corporation – 50/50 joint venture partner in Halcyon along with Tūaropaki Trust.

Ken will be talking about Obayashi's renewable energy projects both in New Zealand and Japan.

Registrations are now open for those wishing to attend the summit – New Zealand’s premier international 2-day hydrogen event:

Register at: https://www.events.nzhydrogen.org/h2-2-zero-summit-2023/register

For more information, visit www.h22zerosummit.nz

@New Zealand Hydrogen Council (linked In)

@Hydrogen New Zealand – Industry News (Facebook)

Halcyon Power Ltd’s assistance of operators aiming to decarbonise the heavy transport sector was acknowledged at the Wood Transportation and Logistics Conference, held in Rotorua May 24-25.

The conference’s Wednesday afternoon session, covering the transition to lower emission fuels, featured a presentation by HWR Group’s general manager innovation Gareth Wishart.

Wishart, addressing the issue of ‘Developing a sustainability and Decarbonisation Blueprint for Heavy Transport’, outlined HWR’s plans to have 10 dual-fuel hydrogen trucks in the company’s South Island transport fleet by early 2024.

While the company plans to have its own refuelling site open in Gore for its dual-fuel trucks in September, in the meantime it has been using green hydrogen from Halcyon Power’s plant in Mokai as it continues to run its first few vehicles and collect data.

The HWR programme involves having 10 dual-fuel hydrogen trucks in its South Island fleet by early next year.

In his presentation Wishart noted that installation of the dual-fuel hydrogen system could take as few as two to three days per truck.

The dual-fuel log carrier the company had on show at Rotorua was planning to visit Mokai for refilling on its return journey south.

Caption: HWR Group general manager innovation Gareth Wishart’s presentation on the company’s programme to develop a sustainability and decarbonisation blueprint for heavy transport included acknowledgement of the relationship with Halcyon Power Ltd.

Transitioning the heavy transport industry to green, alternative fuels is one step closer with two hydrogen suppliers teaming up to get dual fuel hydrogen trucks on the road.

Halcyon Power Ltd has supplied green hydrogen to support HW Richardson (HWR) Group’s programme to transition to carbon neutral transport.

HWR will use the hydrogen in its dual fuel truck trials in the coming months.

The Invercargill-headquartered company, New Zealand’s largest privately-owned transport company, sees the use of dual fuel trucks – in which hydrogen is combined with diesel as a dual fuel energy source – as a viable transition to eventually running its whole fleet on hydrogen alone, using fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) or hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE).

Dual fuel modifications to an existing combustion engine can reduce carbon emissions by up to 40%.

As well as currently commissioning its first dual fuel truck from a European supplier, HWR has announced plans to have 10 retrofitted trucks on the road in the second quarter of 2023 to coincide with its own first hydrogen plant being commissioned. This refuelling site is set to open in Gore later this year.

Halcyon Power project leader Aya Inagaki said Halcyon was pleased to be the supplier of green hydrogen from its Mōkai electrolyser to bridge the gap between HWR’s testing of dual fuel technology and its own hydrogen production coming on stream.

“Co-operation to accelerate the transition away from carbon-based fuels in the heavy transport sector is in everyone’s best interests,” she said.

HWR CEO Anthony Jones said teaming up with Halcyon until the company’s own hydrogen refuelling site opened made sense because it allowed HWR’s dual fuel trial to gather valuable data.

“When our HWR Hydrogen Gore site opens, we’ll have the most up-to-date and comprehensive information as to how to get the best hydrogen performance from our fleet and forge the path for other heavy transports to follow,” he said.

Halcyon Power, New Zealand’s first megawatt scale green hydrogen facility, had already supplied hydrogen to a number of FCEV projects, Inagaki said, but this was the first time it had been for a dual fuel project.

Caption: MB Century Operator Maintainer Colin Little loading one of two cylinder packs of hydrogen onto the waiting transporter on March 20.

Professor Sally Brooker (Otago University) and Associate Professor Jon Kitchen (Massey University, Auckland) took time out from attending AMN10 – the 10th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology in Rotorua – in early February to visit the Halcyon Power site.

Dr Brooker, a keen advocate for the use of green hydrogen as part of the answer to decarbonising New Zealand’s industry and transport sectors, is a co-leader along with Dr Paul Jerabek (Institute of Hydrogen Technology, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon) of He Honoka Hauwai – German-NZ Green H2 Centre, hosted at the University of Otago.

She was impressed that Halcyon Power was successfully operating as a 50:50 joint venture between international backers, Obayashi Corporation of Japan, and the land-based Tūaropaki Trust whose Māori owners derive from hapu within Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Raukawa.

Brooker sees a meaningful and genuine partnership with iwi as a crucial component of success in Aotearoa’s energy transition, away from carbon-based fuels and industrial use of ‘grey’ hydrogen (produced from natural gas with associated carbon emissions), to the use of green hydrogen (produced from water using renewable electricity so with zero carbon emissions) where appropriate.

She is also excited at a number of significant initiatives that will come online in 2023 that should demonstrate the potential benefits of green hydrogen here in heavy trade FCEVs (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles) and dual fuel technology (diesel-green hydrogen). For some years now, Dr Brooker has been championing the idea that NZ could be the first country globally to achieve zero emission domestic aviation, through a combination of battery electric and green hydrogen powered planes, and recent announcements are encouraging of this view.

Innovation in New Zealand means the country is playing its part internationally. Dr Brooker was pleased to note that Obayashi has furthered its investment in hydrogen in New Zealand with one such local innovator, by participating in a financing round to raise new capital for Christchurch-based hi-tech engineering firm Fabrum.

Fabrum, founded in 2004, specialises in producing small to medium-scale specialist systems needed for making and storing hydrogen and has pioneered the use of liquid hydrogen in particular. It plans to use the $23 million raised from a number of local and offshore investors to scale up manufacturing of its end-to-end hydrogen systems at a new purpose-built factory in Christchurch.

Halcyon Power Limited was happy to help Auckland Transport’s FCEV hydrogen bus refuel after it was on show at the New Zealand Bus and Coach Association Conference 2022 in Rotorua from October 9 to 11.

The Global Bus Ventures-built vehicle flew a little further south to be topped up to full capacity at Halcyon’s Mokai production plant near Taupō on Wednesday, October 12 before heading back to Auckland on Thursday.

In its day to day use the bus is currently being refuelled at the Ports of Auckland Limited refuelling station which was taken over by Obayashi Corporation Ltd – one of Halcyon’s parent JV partners – earlier this year.

The bus, built in Christchurch, went into service in March 2021.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Japan Hydrogen Association and the NZ Hydrogen Council marks a furthering of international cooperation for a low carbon future between the two countries.

A NZ delegation including Dr Megan Woods, Minister of Energy and Resources, and industry representatives, including Tūaropaki Trust GM Energy David Binnie, met in Tokyo to sign the agreement on September 26. It coincided with Minister Woods’ visit to Japan for the International Energy Agency’s Hydrogen Ministerial Meeting attended by international energy ministers.

Dr Linda Wright, CE of the NZHC said the collaboration in business and research and development opportunities to accelerate the deployment of hydrogen innovation would assist both nations achieve their climate change objectives.

This MOU follows the 2018 Memorandum of Cooperation, in which New Zealand was the first country in the world to sign an international partnership on hydrogen with Japan.

The MOC was established to allow NZ and Japan to work together to transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels, with the partnership allowing the exchange of information to enhance hydrogen development in New Zealand.

The MOU continues that commitment and aims to build cooperation among member organisations of both the NZHC and the JHA through collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

With 299 members in Japan and 55 in New Zealand, members of both organisations are leading the advancement of innovation and the development of world-leading technology in low emissions hydrogen.

Several Japanese and NZ companies have already established collaborative relationships since the signing of the 2018 MOC, including Halcyon Power Limited’s joint venture partners the Tūaropaki Trust and Obayashi Corporation.

Dr Wright noted that the NZHC was looking forward to advancing innovative partnerships with the JHA and its influential membership – with the support of the Japan New Zealand Business Council.

Caption. Rear: Ryo Minami, Deputy Commissioner for Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, New Zealand Minister of Energy and Resources Dr Megan Woods. Front: Hiroshi Fukushima, Senior Executive Officer, Japan Hydrogen Association and Tūaropaki Trust General Manager Energy David Binnie.

A new partnership between Toyota New Zealand and Obayashi Corporation to provide green hydrogen for the Toyota Hydrogen Project Car Share scheme is good news for Halcyon Power Limited.

It means the 50/50 joint venture partnership between Obayashi and Tūaropaki Trust will be supplying Toyota with 100% green hydrogen, domestically produced at the Halcyon hydrogen production plant at Mōkai.

The hydrogen car share scheme was launched in April and involves Toyota partnering with eight Kiwi brands including The Warehouse Group, Air New Zealand, Saatchi & Saatchi, TVNZ, Beca, Westpac NZ, Spark, and Z Energy, to share a fleet of Toyota Mirai.

The deal between Obayashi and Toyota NZ is further support for the development of Aotearoa New Zealand’s green hydrogen industry.

Toyota NZ CEO, Neeraj Lala says Toyota was adamant it would only work with a refuelling partner who could provide 100% green hydrogen, to avoid any requirement for carbon offsetting, and ensure the fleet was operating with net zero carbon emissions.

“We’re very pleased to be partnering with Obayashi Corporation, who through their partnership with Tūaropaki Trust, are utilising New Zealand’s geothermal resources to provide a completely renewable, zero emissions hydrogen to power the Hydrogen Car Share Project,” he says.

“Like us, Obayashi Corporation and the Trust are committed to a carbon-neutral future. This pilot project is crucial in demonstrating the practical and commercial application of hydrogen fuel cell technology and provides Toyota NZ with another opportunity to explore new environmentally sustainable options for the domestic market.”

Ken Ando, Managing Executive Officer, and Head of Green Energy Division for Obayashi Corporation, says: “It is exciting for us to partner with Toyota New Zealand and showcase what the green hydrogen eco-system will look like. We see this collaboration in the transport sector as a first step for a low-carbon future. Obayashi Corporation, together with Tūaropaki Trust, established our flagship Halcyon Power Limited to contribute to the decarbonisation of New Zealand and we will continue moving to the next level.”

Having a carbon-neutral and renewable source of production energy for Halcyon through Tūaropaki Power Company’s geothermal power station and hydrogen being a zero operating emissions transport fuel were integral to the trust’s involvement in hydrogen.

“Tūaropaki has sustainability as a guiding principle and the green hydrogen project with the involvement of Obayashi Corporation and their sustainable development goals is a perfect fit,” says Tūaropaki Trust CEO Steve Smits-Murray.

“Ultimately, we are looking at a national hydrogen supply chain that includes transportation, site storage and refuelling infrastructure. Transport emissions in New Zealand contribute around 25% of our total emissions, so targeting reduction in transport, and in particular heavy transport, will make a major contribution to carbon reduction. Hydrogen is a solution that is ready to implement now.

“It is important that we build customer confidence in the reliable, effective supply of hydrogen to grow the industry. Partnerships with companies that are investing in hydrogen transport technology, such as Toyota, give us an ideal opportunity to do that,” he says.

The second annual Geothermal Week in Taupō in late July was an opportunity for Tūaropaki Trust General Manager Energy David Binnie to present to industry insiders on ‘Building a green hydrogen supply chain in Aotearoa New Zealand’.

Binnie’s presentation during the NZ Geothermal Association’s Winter Seminar fitted well with the seminar’s overall title ‘Towards Net Zero: Building a Sustainable Future’ and followed keynote speakers Hon Dr Megan Woods, Minister of Energy and Resources, and Andrew Caseley, CE of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Woods acknowledged the efforts of Halcyon Power Ltd in getting out of the blocks first with green hydrogen, while Caseley, who overall stressed a real sense of urgency in reducing emissions, at one point raised the issue of hard-to-decarbonise sectors like heavy transport.

Halcyon Power’s future plans for fast refuelling (something akin to the 15 minutes a truck would currently experience) and a distribution facility in South Auckland would tie in to creating a better user-experience with the fuel and overcome fear of change, responded Binnie.

While green hydrogen solutions were available right now, he said, customers needed confidence in product supply, but that cost of supply would be more expensive than fossil fuels until technology advances or government policy levelled the playing field.

Currently we were not factoring into a (pollutive) fuel or energy price the delays or barriers to the uptake of low or no emission alternatives – such as the intergenerational cost of coping with catastrophic climate events that the world was currently experiencing.

Policy reform could ensure that the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) drove actual emission reductions now rather than leaving it for future generations.

Also not helpful was a growth in competitive rhetoric between advocates of hydrogen, electric vehicles and bio-fuels – as the switch away from fossil fuels needed co-operation and a desire to share technology. In fact, we could be considering co-located hydrogen and EV charging infrastructure as the country built a reliable and efficient fuelling network, he said.

Critical as well for hydrogen was building flexible capacity slightly ahead of demand.

Binnie also stressed that Halcyon Power, the 50/50 joint venture between Tūaropaki Trust and Obayashi Corporation, was consistent with a commitment in both companies to intergenerational investment and sustainability.

Partnerships between companies with like-minded visions could bring collaboration with the power to spark innovation, he said, though in quoting Bill Gates earlier he had also noted: “To truly combat climate change, everyone in the world will need to change their mindsets and behaviour.”

Halcyon Power Ltd is fuelling the first hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric truck on New Zealand roads.

Since completing post commissioning due diligence, Halcyon has been contributing hydrogen to a number of vehicle trials and among the vehicles for which it has been a testing bed, Halcyon has been supplying green hydrogen for commercial trials of the first FCEV truck in New Zealand – the Hyundai XCIENT.

The first of these trucks is expected to be in commercial operation in June with Hyundai announcing another will be on the road by the end of the year and more coming in 2023.

Because it uses electricity generated by Tuaropaki Power Company’s geothermal power station, Halcyon’s source of production energy is carbon-neutral renewable and as a transport fuel, hydrogen results in zero operating emissions with the only discharge being water vapour.

The company sees testing and validation as part of its role as a hydrogen innovator.

Halcyon Power Ltd’s parent Tūaropaki Trust has invested in an example of the latest zero emission hydrogen technology which is now visible on central North Island roads.

The Trust, a land-based organisation near Taupō with interests in geothermal energy, milk powder production, energy services, horticulture, food innovation technology, viticulture and dairy farming, has taken ownership of a new Hyundai NEXO.

The Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle will be used to demonstrate the potential of green hydrogen as a transport fuel, says the Trust’s General Manager Energy David Binnie.

It will run on the hydrogen being produced at Halcyon’s green hydrogen plant at Mōkai.

Because it uses electricity generated by Tūaropaki Power Company’s geothermal power station, Halcyon’s source of production energy is carbon-neutral and renewable. As a transport fuel, hydrogen results in zero operating emissions with the only discharge being water vapour.

These two aspects were integral to the Trust’s involvement in hydrogen as an energy project and its purchase of the Hyundai FCEV, says Trust chief executive officer Steve Murray.

“Tūaropaki has sustainability as one of its guiding principles and the green hydrogen project with the involvement of Obayashi and their sustainable development goals is a perfect fit.

“Ultimately we are looking at a national hydrogen supply chain that includes transportation, site storage and refuelling infrastructure.”

Hyundai New Zealand CEO Andy Sinclair, adds: “For a long time, hydrogen has been touted as the fuel of the future. But today is proof that it’s now the fuel of today. We brought NEXO, New Zealand’s first hydrogen-powered vehicle into the country in 2019, so are delighted to see it in its first commercial use with Tūaropaki Trust.”

Transport emissions in New Zealand contributed around 25% of the country’s total emissions, said Murray.

“Targeting reduction in transport, and in particular heavy transport, will make a major contribution to carbon reduction. Hydrogen is a solution that is ready to implement now.

“It is important that we build customer confidence in the reliable, effective supply of hydrogen to grow the industry. The leadership that we have shown to date and the partnerships we have formed with companies like Hyundai give us an ideal opportunity to do that.”

Figures from the US Environmental Protection Agency suggest a zero-emission passenger vehicle saves about 4.6 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Halcyon Power Limited’s 50/50 parent partners were well represented at the H2 2 ZERO Summit at Te Papa, Wellington on May 3 and 4.

Tuaropaki Trust chief executive officer, Steve Murray was an invited guest speaker at the summit, organised by Hydrogen New Zealand, along with Obayashi Corporation’s Dr Kenichi (Ken) Ando.

Ken is currently Managing Executive Officer, Head of Green Energy Division of Obayashi Corporation, Japan, overseeing investment in renewable energy development projects including hydrogen and geothermal, both domestically and internationally.

For Obayashi, he led the launch of the Halcyon Green Hydrogen Project by forming a strong partnership with Tuaropaki Trust.

Trust General Manager Energy David Binnie, speaking on Steve’s behalf when he was unexpectedly called away, presented about the development of Halcyon Power Ltd and the relationship between Tuaropaki Trust and Obayashi.

Reports from David, and Aya Inagaki, Halcyon Power Ltd project manager, were that the conference went well with Tuaropaki and Halcyon having put a stake in the ground by not just talking about green hydrogen production in NZ but proving it achievable.

The summit aimed to bring together the entire value chain of those involved in progressing the delivery of hydrogen projects.

Halcyon Power Limited was one of the event’s gold sponsors.

David was particularly appreciative of the work by the Trust’s Culture and Legacy programme design and delivery lead Liam Te Mara-Benfell in helping prepare his introductory comments from a Tuaropaki cultural perspective.

The Halcyon Power brand references the purity of green hydrogen and is inspired by the symmetry of the production and consumption of hydrogen; what goes in is what comes out.

The logo treatment interprets this symmetry, but the land, the natural world and protecting this taonga (treasure), is also captured by the graphic form’s resemblance to a landscape.

And the graphic pattern stylistically expresses an impression of a koru, symbolising new life, growth, and strength.

In some applications the graphic shape can be extended to tell a bigger story, as it is reminiscent of a symbolic body of water.