Hydrogen Hub Initiative

The applicant must:

• hold an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• be:
  • an Australian entity duly incorporated under the Corporations Act, and hold and comply with all necessary authorisations that are material to the conduct of the business of the applicant, or
  • a Commonwealth entity under section 10 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth), or
  • an Australian state or territory-owned body corporate, or a subsidiary of an Australian state or territory-owned body corporate, or
  • an Australian state or territory local government or council, or
  • In some limited circumstances, the department at its sole discretion may accept a legal entity other than that listed as meeting the applicant eligibility criteria. Any other entity wanting to apply to the initiative should contact the department.
• be the legal and beneficial owner of, or have all necessary rights to use, any intellectual property necessary to carry out the project
• agree to enter into an agreement with the department to publicly share knowledge and information about, and resulting from, the project described in the application

• applicants should note that the grant funding recipient (if different to the applicant) must always comply with the eligibility criteria set out above.

The applicant must identify the proposed recipient of grant funding in the full application. The department will only enter into a funding agreement with the proposed recipient if they have been identified and assessed by the department during the full application.

The department may enter into a funding agreement with a different entity if that entity is majority owned and controlled by the proposed recipient assessed by the department during the full application.

If at the time of the full application the recipient is expected to be a different legal entity to the applicant, the applicant must clearly specify this in their application, and provide all details of the expected recipient. They must also:

• agree to share data about the project with the Department to help evaluate the initiative and improve the design of future programs
• disclose any legal proceedings or investigation, including litigation, arbitration, mediation or conciliation that is taking place, pending or (to the best of the applicant’s knowledge, after having made proper enquiry) threatened against you or a related body corporate (as defined in the Corporations Act)
• comply with:
  • all obligations under employment contracts, industrial agreements and awards
  • all codes of conduct and practice relevant to conditions of service and to the relations between the applicant and the employees employed by the applicant
  • all applicable workplace health and safety legislation.
• hold all insurances required by law to be held by the applicant
• consent to the information sharing and disclosure requirements to enable hydrogen demand aggregation, consistent with the initiative objectives. 

• entities who are subject to any insolvency event, including the subject of an order or resolution for winding up or dissolution (other than for the purposes of reconstruction or amalgamation), or the appointment of a receiver, liquidator, administrator or similar

• entities named on the list of persons and entities on the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade sanctions list.

Projects that:

• reduce NSW’s greenhouse gas emissions
• would not have gone ahead in the near term without the support of the initiative
• produce and use green hydrogen as defined in the project parameters with additional information and requirements in section 7.3 of the initiative guidelines
• demonstrate the use of hydrogen reduces existing emissions, and
• commit to use green hydrogen by 2025 and meet the renewable energy requirements set out in the project parameters and section 7.3 of the initiative guidelines.

Applicants must demonstrate to the department’s satisfaction that they have a project as defined in section 8.3 of the initiative guidelines.

Projects using hydrogen derived from fossil fuels with carbon emissions may be eligible if:

• the applicant demonstrates the use of hydrogen reduces existing emissions, and
• the contract includes a commitment to use green hydrogen by 2025 and meet the renewable energy requirements set out in the project parameters and section 7.3 of the initiative guidelines.

Funding will be limited to no more than half a project’s eligible expenditure. 

Grant funding is available for projects and can be used for any eligible expenditure related to the project. This includes any assets and equipment necessary for the use of hydrogen. 

Ineligible expenditure includes:

• Activities that directly relate to NSW Government planning assessment processes. This includes biodiversity studies, heritage studies, noise, air quality and traffic studies, and water, waste and hazardous material studies.
• Expenditure related to the general operations and administration of the recipient entity that the recipient could reasonably be expected to undertake in the normal course of business.
• Expenditure on activities that a local, state, territory or Commonwealth government agency has the responsibility to undertake.
• Interest on loans for new and pre-existing capital items used for the project.
• Expenditure on the acquisition of land for a project.
• Sales or promotional activities that don’t directly support the successful completion of the project.
• Membership fees, donations, or any other expenditure that the department determines doesn’t directly support the successful completion of the project.
• Expenditure that doesn’t directly support the successful completion of the project.

Projects must include either a new-build electrolyser or biomethane steam methane reformer to produce green hydrogen from renewable sources in NSW.

For example, the construction refuelling stations that are publicly available to refuel hydrogen vehicles.