Unlocking the potential of green hydrogen with Hiringa Energy

The race to produce green energy at minimal cost to both people and the planet is underway and one Kiwi startup says Aotearoa could be at the forefront of the next era in cleantech.  

Hiringa Energy recently opened four refuelling stations alongside heavy freight fuel depots, packed with hydrogen fuel created using sustainable energy.   

“New Zealand is a great place to make hydrogen a reality just because of the availability of renewable energy and the consolidated transport market,” Hiringa CTO Dan Kahn told Caffeine. 

The potential of hydrogen as an energy source has been obvious for over a century. It can be burned in combustion engines or used in a fuel cell to produce energy with zero emissions, with water as the only byproduct. 

In a pleasing bit of green circularity, it can also be created from water using a process called electrolysis. The output is called ‘green’ hydrogen when only sustainable power is used. 

Kahn, who initially worked in cleantech in Canada, says New Zealand is uniquely placed to showcase the benefits of green hydrogen.  

“When I first started coming here, I found it really difficult to explain to people what I was doing,” he said.  

“Particularly when oil and gas at the time was booming and the general sort of attitude around cleantech was a perception that it’s just an emerging kind of niche thing, an outsider to say the least.”

 “We’ve already accelerated New Zealand to a leader in this space and have many overseas delegates coming here to see what we’re doing as leaders. Whereas five years ago when we were developing what we were doing, we were having to go overseas to see leadership there.” 

Hydrogen has been held back by a long-running series of logistical hurdles, namely the difficulty of producing, storing, and transporting hydrogen fuel efficiently enough to make it economically sound. 

Hiriinga is solving that problem with tactically placed refueling stations across the North Island, established in partnership with Waitomo Group and TR Group. A relatively modest infrastructure investment which could have profound impacts.  

“With these four stations, we can cover something like 95% of the main freight movements on the North Island,” said Khan. 

“That is pretty significant compared to some of the examples that we see overseas with hydrogen where they might have 30 stations in Los Angeles, but you can’t drive up to San Francisco or something like that.” 

Using the refueling stations, New Zealand’s first hydrogen truck recently hit the 100,000km milestone while delivering for NZ Post. 

Having the refueling station built along the same route and at the same depot a truck visits when powered by diesel allows hydrogen to slot into existing supply chains and reduce market friction.

“In North America we’ve struggled to have things take off and just because the distances are so large and it’s not a collaborative ecosystem. We said, ‘hey, New Zealand would be a really great place to launch the first stage of commerciality.” 

One of green hydrogen’s key benefits is its energy density, which means it stores more energy than other fuels. Thus, it can be a valuable option for decarbonising difficult sectors like long-haul shipping or mining. 

Other logistical benefits include the speed with which hydrogen-enabled vehicles are re-fueled while stopping off. 

“We’re able to transfer that energy into the vehicle extremely fast. The hydrogen that goes in, we put about one megawatt hour worth of usable energy into a truck in about 15 minutes,” says Kahn.

“That’s the equivalent of a four-megawatt electric charger, which is orders of magnitude larger than what we currently have today. It allows us to recharge these vehicles much, much faster.” 

And while it has distinct advantages over existing battery technology, Khan stresses that Hiringa is not focused on competing with other green technologies but complementing them in pursuit of a common goal. 

“A fuel cell truck is like 80% the same as a battery electric truck. So, the innovations across both technologies benefit both. Some people might not go zero emissions because one product just might not suit their normal business operations,” says Kahn.  

“But if we can put another option on the table, there is a higher percentage that will get greater uptake of zero emissions or very low emissions technologies because there’s something that might be suitable for the way people operate their business.” 

While the road to get here has been long, Kahn is confident the hydrogen market in New Zealand is moving up a gear.   

“I’m really excited to get more users on the network and get more people to operate these vehicles and see them on the road as a viable solution. We’re not just sitting here talking about it anymore.”