Category: Business

Australian start-up Hysata that says it has developed the world’s most efficient electrolyser has attracted A$42.5m ($29.4m) in an oversubscribed Series A funding round.

The money will be used to grow the company’s team and “develop a pilot manufacturing facility” for its innovative “capillary-fed” technology, which it says will be able to deliver the “world’s lowest-cost green hydrogen” due to its superior efficiency .

In simple terms, the largest element of the levelised cost of green hydrogen (LCOH) is the cost of the renewable electricity used, so the less power an electrolyser needs to produce each kilogram of H_twothe lower the LCOH it would be.

Hysata says its capillary-fed electrolyser (CFE) requires just 41.5kWh of electricity per kg of hydrogen. The industry benchmark for highly efficient electrolysers is 50kWh/kg.

“The Hysata electrolyser operates at 95% system efficiency (41.5 kWh/kg), delivering a giant leap in performance and cost over incumbent technologies, which typically operate at 75% or less [52.5kWh/kg],” the company says. The efficiency figure is a reference to the 39.4kWh (HHV) of energy contained in a kilogram of H_two.

“This high efficiency, coupled with the simple approach to mass manufacturing and low supply chain risk puts the company on a path to delivering the world’s lowest cost green hydrogen.”

The company explains on its website that a green hydrogen project producing one million tonnes of H_two per year using 52.5kWh/kg electrolysers would require 14GW of wind and solar power at a world-class location. With the CFE, the same developers would only need 11GW of renewable energy — a cost saving of about $3bn (assuming an average capital cost for renewables of $1m per MW).

Hysata says the CFE offers “step-change improvement over existing designs”, not just in terms of the electrolyser stack, but also a simplified balance of plant (BOP) and modular manufacturing that is easy to automate and scale.

The electrolyser offers a “low-cost design, based on earth-abundant materials”, the company says — a reference to the high-cost iridium required in PEM electrolysers — while the “high cell efficiency eliminates the need for expensive cooling”.

The “integrated BOP and stack design provides an optimized turnkey system that delivers high purity green hydrogen at the lowest levelized cost”, the Hysata website adds.

[Hysata] is set to be a major player in the global electrolyser industry

The company plans to reach gigawatt-scale production in 2025.

As part of the Series A funding round, the Australian government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) invested A$10m — adding to its initial A$750,000 cash injection, with further investments coming from Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas’ investment arm, Vestas ventures; UK cleantech investor Kiko Ventures; intellectual property commercialization company IP Group Australia; Aussie superannuation fund Hostplus and Australian steel producer BlueScope’s investment arm, BlueScopeX.

“Having assessed scores of electrolyser technologies in my 20 years in cleantech, Hysata’s technology stands out as a true breakthrough,” said Kiko Ventures founding partner Robert Trezona.

“The company has redefined the core cell architecture for alkaline electrolysis, producing a practical and scalable solution with game changing efficiency. Hysata has the potential to be a globally significant company in the hydrogen economy and we look forward to supporting its growth, especially here in Europe.”

The view was echoed by CEFC boss Ian Learmouth.

“The CEFC is proud to continue our support for Hysata, which is set to be a major player in the global electrolyser industry,” he said.

Hysata CEO Paul Barrett added: “Over the last 12-18 months, Hysata has been interacting with dozens of major customers globally. The impact our efficiency and system simplicity delivers to customers’ project economics truly moves the needle.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our shareholders and customers to bring this much needed technology to market as soon as possible.”

The string of construction company failures across south-east Queensland and nationally over the past year, hastened by surging input prices, has pulled down both giants such as Probuild as well as small home-building franchisees and triggered scrutiny of the risks shared and pricing charged in Australia’s contracting markets.

Many developers underestimate builder’s margins, as they look at a contractor’s published earnings figures – Wiley, for example, made a net profit of just $2.9 million last year, implying a 2 per cent profit margin – but such a figure is not comparable with a project margin, Barron says.

“One number is a reported profit margin on real events inclusive of tax and the other number is a proposed risk margin for the obligation to assume risks relating to the creation of something that does not exist,” he says.

“Starting margin rarely, if ever, matches the finishing margin because the contractor always takes responsibility for at least one risk that crystallises in a negative result.”

But sharing more risks would make it harder to secure finance under the rules many banks use and paying more will push up the price of assets for end purchasers, developers say.

“If you look at the sort of contract financiers typically require, they generally need a fixed price and a fixed time contract with liquidated damages built in,” says Maxwell Shifman, national president of developers’ body UDIA.

There has been some discussion about more openness to different contracting methods, but taking on more risk would be hard to price and more expensive at a time of already-rising costs, Shifman says.

Barron says that in an industry where builders have been conditioned to accept low margins they must think of contracting like a futures contract – to deliver an asset at some point in time – and price the risks around that accurately.

“We’re selling certainty to our client,” he says. “If we’re giving certainty to our client, what’s stopping the client paying for that certainty, or what’s stopping us asking the client to pay for that?”

Contractors should not have to bear risks they cannot control, such as weather or subterranean conditions that could affect progress. This would also help bring an end to the system in which head contractors push as much of their own risk on to the subcontractors they engage, Barron says.

“We’ve been conditioned and trained in this business to accept low margins instead of pricing risk in the appropriate dollars,” he says.

What’s more, Cannon-Brookes’ spokeswoman on Wednesday declined to confirm to us whether any of his super remained in Spaceship (so make up your own mind).

Such was the superficiality of Spaceship’s stated commitment to provide exposure to tech stocks that it was fined in 2018 for misleading members, as 80 per cent of the fund was in boring index-tracking funds. Not to mention the fees were higher than standard My Super funds.

director spaceship Paul Dortkamp was this year banned from financial services for two years for incompetence, and former chief executive Paul Bennett copped a six-year ban for getting a junior employee to attain an Australian Institute of Company Directors qualification on his behalf.

Meanwhile, its superannuation products are burning piles of millennial cash, with GrowthX returning minus 19.5 per cent to the end of June; its investment product Voyager lost 47 per cent.

Spaceship was, and is, nothing but a fetid vehicle serving to vacuously hype the egos of tech bros, all the while (as a for-profit super fund) enriching its staff and founders at the expense of members.

Raising documents circulating readily admit “Spaceship has still not achieved the scale required to be cashflow positive”. If it was a trustee, it would be turfed out of the industry.

Atlassian’s stated core principle, “don’t f— the customer”, sadly does not apply to Grok Ventures.

It’s pure Cannon-Brookes, who stars the Australian Taxation Office of revenue via legally permissible domestic R&D tax credits and foreign-domiciled structures, owns more land than a feudal emperor, and insists that his wife annie is the one who purchased Dunk Island, as if her money is not his, all while competing with Matt Canavan for who can wear the most excruciating trucker hat.

However, Spaceship Super is all care but no responsibility, being the out-sourced promoter and marketer of a sub-fund managed by responsible entity Diversa Trustees. Diversa is the entity that has to decide whether arrangements are in the best interests of members, which perhaps it should.

The business and distribution model Spaceship runs on is so repulsive to regulators that Diversa has shut down similar operations GigSuper, Zuper, GROW Super, Brightday, MYONESUPER, Super Prophets, LEFS Super, McMahon Super and Map Super, to name a few.

But for Grok Ventures, Spaceship, too, would likely be consigned to the trash heaps of superannuation gimmickry.

A trade body has hit out at Australia’s “outdated” spirits tax regime as distillers face the biggest increase in nearly 50 years.

Tax has risen to AU$94.41 per liter of pure alcohol, based on consumer price inflation (CPI) figures, which means Australian distillers will have to pay an extra AU$1 of tax on an average 700ml bottle of spirit at 40% ABV.

“This is effectively a double whammy on spirits,” said Greg Holland, chief executive of trade group Spirits and Cocktails. “It’s the biggest increase in almost 50 years, since our tax figures were updated in 1978, and in that time spirits manufacturers have been slugged with the GST [goods and services tax] and the RTDs (ready-to-drink) tax as well. “

Australia has the third-highest spirits tax in the world, as well as a complex alcohol duty regime, trade body Spirits and Cocktails noted.

“We know all Australians are feeling the pain of inflation but this outdated tax regime means the spirits industry is effectively punished twice,” Holland added.

He noted distillers are paying ‘skyrocketing prices’ for barley, glass and cans, and freight charges that have more than doubled in certain regions.

Spirits and Cocktails cited several cost increases over the past 12 months for distillers, including a 55% increase on freight, a 20%-30% rise on glass, a 50% hike on cereals, and a 16% surge on oak barrels.

Holland noted: “On top of all the other cost of living pressures they’re facing, those millions of Australian consumers will now likely be slugged even more as a result of this excise increase.”

The trade group said the country’s ‘outmoded’ alcohol tax system indexes spirits excise to inflation, and results in increases every six months.

As such, up to 60% of the retail price of an average 700ml bottle of spirit in Australia is now taxed, the group highlighted.

Automatic increases in line with CPI means the government’s average tax take from the distilling sector, which includes pre-mixed spirit production, rises by between AU$100 million to AU$120m every year.

Holland said: “This tax is cannibalizing our industry. It has an insatiable appetite; no matter how hard our distillers and manufacturers work to grow, it keeps taking more.

“We look forward to working with the new federal government to build a more sustainable future for the Australian spirits industry.”

For an in-depth look at the Australian market, check out the August 2022 issue of The Spirits Business.

In December last year, the UK and Australia agreed to a trade deal that will remove tariffs on spirits such as Scotch whiskey and gin.

The strong demand for the Lamborghini brand and supply chain disruptions generally meant the order book was now running 18 months ahead, instead of 12 months. The entire 2023 production schedule was already sold to buyers.

For the six months ended June 30, global deliveries of vehicles were up 4.9 per cent to 5090. The operating profit for Automobil Lamborghini was up 70 per cent to €425 million ($622.4 million). Sales were up 31 per cent to €1.33 billion.

Mr Winkelmann attributed the jump in profits to a better product mix, foreign exchange gains and robust sales. The URUS SUV model accounted for 61 per cent of overall sales, with the Huracan and Aventador making up the remainder.

The United States is the No.1 market for the brand, and makes up almost 30 per cent of total global sales with 1,521 vehicles delivered to that market. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau makes up the second-largest market at 11 per cent, followed by Germany at 9 per cent.

Being part of such a large global group under the Volkswagen banner meant Lamborghini was in a better position than many rivals for sourcing semiconductors as a shortage continues to constrain car manufacturers, Mr Winkelmann said.

“We have the advantage of being in a large group,” he said.

Lamborghini is pursuing a slow and steady approach to electric vehicles, where all of its models will be available as hybrids from 2023 and 2024.

The shift to hybrid models, and then the move to electric vehicles will require heavier investment, and this is the same for all carmakers. “The life cycles are getting shorter. The technology is getting faster,” he said.

“Everything is getting more expensive.”

But Lamborghini will be making the investments that are required.

“It’s a challenge we have to face, and a challenge we have to accept,” Mr Winkelmann said.

He said the advent of synthetic fuels will also help in the push for decarbonisation around the world, enabling internal combustion engine vehicles to stay on the road.

“We see this as an opportunity that is valuable,” he said.

E-fuels group HIF Global, which is backed by Porsche, announced in early July it had chosen Tasmania as the site for a $1 billion production plant for synthetic green fuels in Australia. The plant, to be located south of Burnie in the north-west of the island state, would produce up to 100 million liters a year of carbon-neutral e-fuels once fully operational. HIF Global is part-way through building a synthetic fuels plant in Chile.