The Andrews Labor Government has announced the new capital as it looks to clean up heavy transport, buses and industry and support six projects that will see Victoria produce and use renewable hydrogen in real-world applications.

Volgren Australia and Viva Energy will focus on hydrogen mobility with their portion of the funds. Already, Volgren has said it will develop two commercial-grade hydrogen fuel cell electric buses and Viva will develop a hydrogen refuelling station.

Air Liquide and Energys Australia will also look at hydrogen transportation and have said they will develop renewable hydrogen production facilities for hydrogen vehicles.

Focusing more so on the power side of things, Boundary Power have said they will develop what they say will be Australia’s first solar-renewable hydrogen standalone power system that will convert solar power into hydrogen and use that hydrogen to generate electricity during power outages.

Telstra will also receive funding to deploy a renewable hydrogen fuel cell generator at regional mobile communication sites, to strengthen the grid and remove the reliance on fossil fuels generators.

On the capital, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio, said, “Renewable hydrogen is a key part of our clean energy transition, ensuring we can meet our target of halving emissions by 2030 and hit net zero by 2050.

“These exciting projects will help businesses push the frontiers of renewable hydrogen and embrace this clean energy solution.

“Victoria’s support for the renewable hydrogen sector will create new jobs while we drive down emissions across our economy by funding the infrastructure and innovation required to accelerate this change.”