NanoMalaysia, Fortescue collaborate on green hydrogen R&D
14 Jul 2024
NanoMalaysia Bhd (NMB), a company limited by guarantee under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australia’s integrated green technology, energy, and metals company, Fortescue.
Under the MoU, they will work together to determine opportunities for collaboration on research and development in Malaysia’s green hydrogen industry.
Minister Chang Lih Kang witnessed the signing ceremony following a meeting between the two companies while attending the Connecting Green Hydrogen APAC 2024 conference in Melbourne.
The MoU marks a pivotal moment for Malaysia’s journey to be a leading Hydrogen Economy country by 2050, as outlined in the Hydrogen Economy and Technology Roadmap (HETR), launched in October last year.
Mosti is spearheading Malaysia’s science and technology agenda, which includes developing sustainable energy solutions. The HETR is Mosti’s answer to addressing the three energy challenges – reliability, affordability, and sustainability – on the road to carbon neutrality. For technology and capability development, the roadmap focuses on the “Build Some, Buy Some” approach in the short-term plan (2022-2030) and aims to encourage the use of both local and foreign hydrogen technologies in Malaysia.
The “build-some, buy-some” principle is critical to achieving low hydrogen generation costs in the world market. Malaysia aims to achieve this by developing a complete ecosystem that includes the supply and value chain in raw materials, processed materials, advanced materials, component fabrication, system and product integration, large-scale production and market penetration through smart joint ventures and project investment.
It will incorporate expertise from international corporations such as Fortescue while local companies develop local technologies based on the primary technology niches.
The proposed collaboration between NMB and Fortescue also includes potentially working to develop Hydrogen Hubs in Malaysia. Hydrogen Hubs are areas with a concentration of hydrogen stakeholders across the value chain and consist of the facilities and systems required for hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and transportation. NMB also proposes to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Malaysia known as HEBATT (Hydrogen-Electric Vehicle-Battery) Centre where Fortescue will be able to exchange technological expertise and insight.
NanoMalaysia CEO Dr Rezal Khairi Ahmad said, “Under Mosti, NMB has initiated the development and innovation of local hydrogen technology solutions and ecosystem construction through the Venture Builder (VB) model in collaboration with industry, academia, industries, interministries, public agencies, and foreign entities.
“A pivotal achievement in NanoMalaysia’s hydrogen endeavours is the ‘Hydrogen EcoNanoMY’ programme under the 12th Malaysia Plan.”
Source: The Sun
