HysataFab cements the Illawarra’s role at the forefront of the global green transition. Photos: Chilby Photography.
A homegrown technology is set to power the Southern Hemisphere’s largest clean-energy manufacturing facility, backed by a $49 million federal government boost and world-first artificial intelligence.
Hysata has officially launched HysataFab at its 8500-sqm Port Kembla headquarters — a 50 MW per annum, AI-driven production line capable of scaling up to 200 megawatts of the company’s world-leading hydrogen electrolysers annually as demand grows.
The Port Kembla project will also include early commercial-scale electrolyser deployments and local manufacturing of key components, including membranes, anodes and cathodes.
HysataFab uses artificial intelligence to produce up to 15 per cent more product from the same physical production line, through a bespoke system integrating real-time monitoring, robotics and inline quality testing.
The expansion is expected to create 40 local engineering, manufacturing and technical jobs while injecting up to $30 million annually into regional suppliers.
Hysata also supports a training and skills development pathway delivered in partnership with the University of Wollongong (where research for its technology originated) and TAFE NSW Illawarra, helping to build the skilled workforce needed to manufacture its electrolysers.
Member for Cunningham Alison Byrnes said Hysata was a “true local success story” and formed part of a broader picture taking form in the Illawarra.
“Together with our investments in Sicona, Gravitas, BlueScope and more, we’re building an advanced manufacturing network that is putting our region on the world stage,” she said.
“The Illawarra has the skills, capability and drive to help power Australia’s clean-energy future, and the Albanese Labor Government is backing local jobs, local innovation and a Future Made in the Illawarra.”
Officials, including Alison Byrnes MP, tour HysataFab.
Electrolysers split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity, serving as the foundational technology for renewable hydrogen.
Hysata’s breakthrough design uses significantly less power than conventional units, helping lower the cost of clean hydrogen for hard-to-abate industries such as steelmaking, fertiliser production, and heavy transport.
While modern electrolysers operate at 65 to 75 per cent efficiency, Hysata can achieve a system efficiency of around 95 per cent.
Hysata CEO Paul Barrett said hydrogen’s real market was industrial feedstock, not the uneconomic applications such as passenger cars or home heating that drew early attention.
“Hydrogen does not need to compete with electrification. You use it where you need a molecule, not an electron. In steel, in fertiliser and in refining, there is no substitute for it,” Dr Barrett said.
“The world already uses more than a hundred million tonnes of hydrogen a year, nearly all of it made from fossil fuels. The challenge is not inventing a market. It is producing clean hydrogen at a price industry can afford, and cheaper renewables are opening new markets in green steel and e-fuels for aviation and shipping.”
HysataFab’s electrode line is the world’s first electrolyser production line to use AI to analyse thousands of data points from every electrode it produces.
Hysata Principal AI Engineer Shaun Maris said real-time sensing and inline inspection created a digital record for every electrode. Each component made helps refine the process for the next.
“Every electrode has a digital fingerprint. We capture thousands of data points as it moves down the line, and the AI reads that in real time. It picks up drift before it turns into a defect, and closes the loop back into process control,” Mr Maris said.
“Our AI agents analyse more process history each day than the entire team could in a career, running close to 10,000 analytical queries daily. This is how HysataFab learns: every component produced helps optimise the next, continuously improving quality and yield.”
Hysata has raised more than $220 million from global investors to date. Supported through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, the grant meets around half the $98 million project cost, matched by Hysata from private capital.
Globally, installed electrolysis capacity doubled in 2025 to more than 4 GW, with a further 2.5 GW under construction for 2026, according to the International Energy Agency.
