SunHydrogen Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen using only sunlight and water, have announced that it has entered into a Technology Collaboration and Intellectual Property Protection Agreement with Sparc Hydrogen Pty Ltd, a joint venture of Sparc Technologies Ltd Fortescue Ltd and the University of Adelaide. The agreement follows preliminary testing in which SunHydrogen's modules reached solar-to-hydrogen efficiency above 10%.
Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency measures how much of the energy in sunlight a device converts into hydrogen. Reaching double digits is a widely recognised milestone for technologies that split water directly with sunlight, and only a small number of groups worldwide have demonstrated it. In the same testing, SunHydrogen's modules produced more hydrogen as the sunlight reaching them was concentrated. That behaviour supports higher production rates and is central to the economics of Sparc Hydrogen's concentrated-sunlight reactor.
Under the agreement, the two companies will test whether SunHydrogen's modules can be integrated into Sparc Hydrogen's reactors to lower the cost of producing hydrogen. The work begins with laboratory testing at increasing levels of solar concentration and, if agreed milestones are met, moves to on-sun testing at Sparc Hydrogen's SHARP pilot facility at Roseworthy in South Australia. Those results will feed a jointly funded study of the levelised cost of hydrogen, which is the all-in cost to produce one kilogram of hydrogen.
The collaboration runs for 24 months and is organized in phases, with independent review points and go or no-go decisions before each stage. Each company keeps ownership of the technology it brings to the collaboration and of its own improvements, and a joint steering committee oversees the work.
During the term, Sparc Hydrogen holds rights to apply SunHydrogen's technology in concentrated-light applications above an agreed concentration level, the field in which Sparc Hydrogen specialises. SunHydrogen retains all rights to its core market of decentralised hydrogen production under natural, unconcentrated sunlight. Sparc Hydrogen has also acknowledged that it is not developing its own photocatalyst or photoelectrochemical materials and is not working in SunHydrogen's field of single-sun water splitting.
If the collaboration is completed successfully, Sparc Hydrogen has an 18-month option to negotiate either a long-term supply agreement or a manufacturing license for SunHydrogen's modules for use in its reactors, together with a right of first offer over competing arrangements in that field during the option period.
Sparc Hydrogen's photocatalytic water splitting technology was invented by Professor Greg Metha, Professor of Chemistry and Acting Director of the Centre for Energy Technology at the University of Adelaide, whose research the company was founded to commercializse. In 2021, Professor Metha's group produced hydrogen using only concentrated sunlight, water and a photocatalyst, and his laboratory has pioneered photocatalytic reactors that operate under concentrated light. He also established the international Hydrogen Production Technology (HyPT) forum and serves as Australian Director of the NSF-CSIRO Global Center for Hydrogen Production.
“Seeing our modules tested above 10% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency, and produce more hydrogen as sunlight is concentrated, is exactly the kind of outside validation our shareholders want to see,” said Tim Young, CEO of SunHydrogen. “It is an honour to work alongside Professor Greg Metha, whose pioneering work in concentrated-light photocatalysis underpins Sparc Hydrogen's reactor. This collaboration lets us prove our modules in a system built by specialists in the field, while we stay focused on our core mission of low-cost, decentralized hydrogen from sunlight and water. It gives both companies a clear, milestone-driven path from the lab to pilot scale.”
“Sparc Hydrogen's strategy is to work with the world's leading developers of photocatalyst and photoelectrochemical materials, and this collaboration with SunHydrogen reflects that approach,” commented Alana Barlow, CEO of Sparc Hydrogen. “We have seen solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies above 10% in the lab, and evidence that higher solar concentration increases hydrogen yield, the core benefit our technology is built to deliver. This agreement sets a clear, milestone-driven path to prove that out to pilot scale, on terms that open a route to commercialisation.”
"Concentrated sunlight is a demanding environment for a photoelectrochemical device, so validating efficiency above 10% while running under higher solar flux and producing more hydrogen as light was concentrated is a strong starting point," added Dr. Syed Mubeen, Chief Technology Officer of SunHydrogen. "We look forward to integrating our modules into the Sparc reactor and proving them out at increasing concentration, on-sun at SHARP."