Cross Cutting Technology

Hydrogen Safety

Leading the hydrogen safety thematic area for the Australian Research Council Industrial Training Centre for the Global Hydrogen Economy, the Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies is working with lead University UNSW to generate new technologies and equip a workforce of industry focused engineers with advanced skills for development and scaling-up of hydrogen generation and transport.

Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Catalytic Conversion of Natural Gas and other Hydrocarbons to Hydrogen, Aromatics and other Carbonaceous Products

Australia is well placed to produce significant quantities of hydrogen from natural gas due to its abundant supply of natural gas. It will be able to satisfy the emerging global growth of hydrogen utilisation. However, in order to produce hydrogen at scale and at low cost, a number of technologies will have to be developed. Catalytic hydrogenation/ dehydrogenation technology can enable the transformation of natural gas to hydrogen with valuable by products such as aromatics to improve economics of the process. Furthermore, the technology can be used as a storage solution for hydrogen in mobile applications such as airplanes and automobiles. Technology to produce hydrogen on board of an aircraft has been developed by our group.

Contact: Professor Michael Stockenhuber
Director: Laureate Professor Behdad Moghtaderi / Centre for Innovative Energy Technologies

Power Electronics

Power electronic circuits provide the electrical interface both to and from renewable energy sources and energy storage systems where they are used in grid connected, stand-alone and transportation applications.  Most of these renewable sources and storage systems have operational constraints exhibited at start-up, during load changes and even in steady state.  These limits are typically managed through the operation and control of the power electronic interface to allow the formation of a functional system.  Research capability exists in these areas of power electronic design, modelling, construction, system control and operation.

Contact: Dr Colin Coates / School of Engineering

Risk-Based Decision Making For Energy Infrastructure

Decision-making is complex – there may be competing political, social, environmental and technical imperatives, uncertain climate change projections and energy demands, limited resources, competing priorities, different policy timeframes, incomplete data, and so on. The risk appetite and other preferences of the decision maker, community and individuals are also important variables to consider. Risk assessment is used to measure and compare the economic, social and environmental risks, costs and benefits of new and emerging technologies. The world is not deterministic. As we live in an uncertain world, these measures have been modelled probabilistically to realistically represent the stochastic uncertainty and variability of decision-making. This helps inform the optimal design, management and operation of infrastructure, and that enhances its resiliency while minimising costs. This type of risk-based decision making has a wide range of multi-disciplinary applications for built infrastructure, including energy generation, storage and distribution infrastructure. These risk-informed decision tools thus provide evidence-based and rational criteria for assessing the life-cycle performance and optimal strategies for energy infrastructure.

Contact: Professor Mark Stewart / Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability