In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations, we hear from Philippe Odouard, who has spend the last 15 years leading Quickstep, XTEK (now known as HighCom) and now SolidHydrogen. He tells us about his experiences running technology startups in Australia, where he sees growth in the hydrogen coming from, the best ways to keep ahead of competitors wanting to steal novel IP, and more.
Episode guide
0:23 – Moved to Australia 40 years ago and spent most of his time since then in industry. The last 15 years have had a focus on startups.
2:07 – What manufacturing startups take and some of the challenges (being Australian isn’t that big of a barrier, according to Odouard.)
3:35 – Differences – there aren’t too many – between heading defence startups and heading SolidHydrogen.
5:02 – A company needs a lot of different skills.
5:42 – Linking up with Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou.
6:29 – An introduction to hydride alloys if one is needed.
7:32 – “It’s not a question of pressure, it’s not a question of temperature, it’s a question of molecular connections.” Useful for “typically 10,000 cycles” or potentially 30 years.
8:30 – A benefit to hydrides is that, used correctly, they can purify, compress and store hydrogen at low costs, according to Odouard.
11:28 – The energy required to melt hydrides isn’t a dealbreaker for doing this here.
11:57 – What the company plans to sell to customers.
13:03 – The approach to defending against copycats, involving continuous R&D with customers, some patents, and trade secrets.
15:25 – Some comparisons with other up-and-coming hydrogen storage technologies including metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs)
16:40 – Their main market is in stationary applications. Batteries are better for energy storage in transport, but not large-scale stationary energy storage.
18:25 – You have to be price-competitive. Being green is not enough. “Subsidies are not going to change very much, because subsidies by the kilo, like Australia wants to do, and a few other countries: If you invest for 15, 20 years, the government is not going to give you the subsidies for 15 to 20 years. So your thing is shot very quickly.”
19:37 – ESAF and biofuels.
21:50 – An American project involving eSAF. Potential for that fuel in ships.
23:02 – Funding. How the company has supported itself so far and a planned capital raise to reach the next step: pilot manufacturing.
26:28 – Why Odouard sees a healthy future for hydrogen. “It’s not exactly a dying market… The top of the hype was probably a couple of years ago, the trough is probably now.”
27:45 – Hydrogen is an ideal fuel for off-grid sites like mines.
28:45 – There’s already a solid demand for hydrogen from forklift users. The chemical industry is another eager user.
30:55 – Hydrogen has strong potential in the reduction of iron ore.
32:08 – Australian companies should look to be globally-relevant from the beginning as the demand just doesn’t exist here.
33:02 – The lack of suppliers for manufacturing businesses in Australia and how to handle this issue.
Further reading
SolidHydrogen partners with Korea’s EN2CORE Technology
Pressure and performance: Australian company pushes to be a global leader in armour
