A one-megawatt electrolyser is on its way to Invercargill for HW Richardson Group's hydrogen refuelling station, bringing the transport company's plan to make its own truck fuel in Southland a step closer.

New York-based Plug Power announced on 22 September that it had shipped a GenEco proton-exchange-membrane electrolyser to HWR Hydrogen, the hydrogen division of the Invercargill-headquartered group.

The unit will be installed at HWR Hydrogen's refuelling station in the city, where it will use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will initially supply HWR's fleet of dual-fuel hydrogen-diesel heavy trucks and other customers in Southland, with the station designed to refuel manufacturer-built hydrogen vehicles as they become available.

HWR general manager of technology and innovation Gareth Wishart said the project was "proving out a model we can extend across the South Island as adoption grows".

Plug Power chief executive José Luis Crespo said the significance of the project lay not in the size of the electrolyser but in what it represented.

Dual-fuel fleet

HWR's dual-fuel system, developed by its company Change Fuel Technologies, is retrofitted to existing diesel engines. Hydrogen is stored as a gas in tanks behind the cab, typically five tanks holding 5kg each, and injected into the engine, with diesel acting as the pilot fuel that ignites the mix.

The company says trucks running in dual-fuel mode cut carbon emissions by up to 40 per cent with no loss of payload, range or routes, and can run on diesel alone when hydrogen is not available. It says the system was designed to European hydrogen standards with three layers of fail-safe protection.

HWR says it has committed more than $15 million to exploring New Zealand-produced hydrogen and trialling the technology, and has put the country's first dual-fuel milk collection tanker on the road. It describes the Southland production system as capable of making up to 450kg of hydrogen a day.

The longer-term plan is to add electrolysers, storage, compressors and dispensers to sites in the group's Allied Petroleum network so they can sell hydrogen alongside petrol and diesel, starting in the South Island.

HWR has previously said the Allied Petroleum diesel and AdBlue forecourt at the site was commissioned ahead of the hydrogen production area, which it described as complex to build. A new roundabout on State Highway 1 and road upgrades near the site were planned to coincide with the forecourt opening, to improve access and safety for trucks, heavy machinery and the public.

Plug Power used the same announcement to confirm its selection to supply a 50-megawatt electrolyser system for Orica's Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub in New South Wales, which it described as the largest renewable hydrogen project in Australia to reach a final investment decision. Its equipment already supports Hiringa Energy's hydrogen refuelling network in New Zealand.

HWR is one of New Zealand's largest privately owned transport companies, with interests spanning transport, petroleum, ready-mixed concrete, contracting, quarrying and technology services. Chief executive Anthony Jones has said the group sees it as its responsibility to drive change in the industry rather than shy away from it.