Hydrogen generators deployed at vulnerable mobile towers

Energys and Telstra have commissioned five hydrogen-powered backup generators at critical regional mobile phone towers around Victoria, the last of which came online in early July. The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Generators, manufactured by Energys at its Mulgrave facility, will provide long-duration zero-emissions power to critical mobile phone towers in case of natural disasters and other unplanned electricity grid outages.

In October 2023, the Victorian Government provided a Renewable Hydrogen Commercialisation Pathways Fund grant of $1,115,185 to Telstra to deploy renewable hydrogen generators in five Victorian regional areas that suffered outages after the powerful 2021 storms, thus removing reliance on fossil fuel generators while supporting the reliability of telecom services in times of high demand. Telstra selected the five tower sites — Neerim North, Chum Creek, Christmas Hills, Coldstream and Kinglake — due to their vulnerability to electricity grid storm damage and their importance in supporting regional communities during extreme weather events.

Designed to international and Australian standards, Energys’s hydrogen generator range features commercially ready power products that service the most common applications currently serviced by diesel generators; these include 12, 40, 125 and 250 kW systems available to customers ‘off the shelf’. The company said its turnkey power products are drop-in zero emissions replacements for traditional diesel electric generators, which have been the mainstay of backup power and energy resilience since the 1950s.

Energy Safe Victoria has signed off on Type B regulatory compliance for the five Telstra sites and the Energys hydrogen generator, which has been operating at Toyota in Altona since 2019. Further systems in Queensland and Western Australia are also in advanced stages of regulatory approval.

“We’re thankful for Telstra’s trust in Energys to deliver critical backup power systems that will service these five sites during natural disasters and extended grid outages,” said Energys Managing Director Roger Knight. “It’s a huge endorsement of the reliability and readiness of our hydrogen generators.”

Image caption: Hydrogen power generator at Neerim North Telstra Tower.