International Insights

It has been a very busy period for Star Scientific Limited (Star Scientific) on the world stage. In May, we were part of a German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK) mission to Germany and Denmark, where we had the opportunity to talk to industry and government officials about the evolving face of hydrogen in Europe. We spoke on a panel at the Australian Embassy in Berlin and participated in workshops with German hydrogen supply-chain participants.

During our brief visit to a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) facility in Denmark, we noted a new fume extraction technology that our research team has since pursued with the vendor. We also toured the salt cavern storage facility at Wilhelmshaven on the Baltic Coast.

This mission was the last to be led by the AHK’s redoubtable Florence Lindhaus, and we would like to thank her for her leadership on hydrogen policy and wish her the best for the future.

Star Scientific was represented at the annual World Hydrogen Summit at Rotterdam, where Star Scientific’s Global Group Chair Andrew Horvath presented the “Industrial Application” Award (the same Award Star Scientific won in 2021). The team from Star attending the conference appeared on several panels, talking about our view on the hydrogen supply chain (light, nimble, local) and energy equality for the developing world. The conference exhibition had increased in size from the previous year and included a strong Australian contingent with some very interesting technological innovations. During our time in Rotterdam, several government meetings took place, including with our Ambassador to the Netherlands, Dr Greg French.

Following on from Rotterdam, our Deputy CEO joined an Austrade trade mission to Sweden to investigate “green steel.”  Initially, we thought we would have a limited, if any, role in green steel, thinking the furnace temperatures would be too hot for HERO®, however this mission is causing a rethink, as there are other heating requirements in the process within our reach. We were particularly enamoured of a start-up who are developing a “reduction as a service” model via deployable kettles. They aim to take the smelters to the ore bodies rather than the other, more traditional way around.

From Sweden, we visited Warsaw for a range of meetings, including with Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment and Climate, Krzysztof (Chris) Bolesta to discuss Poland’s Hydrogen Strategy. A highlight was a meeting with the sustainability team of global food giant, Danone.

In the Czech Republic (Czechia), further meetings were scheduled, one being with Petr Mervart, the Senior Czech bureaucrat responsible for their excellent Hydrogen Strategy. Czechia’s vision really accords with ours – i.e the industry should be built from the “ground up,” locally with demand and supply in balance.

These visits have been invaluable in building our commercial strategy, uncovering complementary technologies from like-minded companies and in laying the groundwork for our eventual European base. As ever, we would like to thank Austrade, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, along with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency and the CzechInvest for their excellent assistance.

Regulatory matters

Star Scientific is monitoring the New South Wales Parliament to see if the Government will honour its promise to legislate hydrogen as a gas under the Fair-Trading Act. A positive outcome in the Parliament will allow us to extend an invitation to their officers responsible for certification.

The Australian Federal Election has seen the Labor Federal Government returned and therefore no significant changes in policy. One major impact however was that the Opposition campaigned on a pro-nuclear energy policy, and, given their sound defeat, the future looks problematic for nuclear energy in our home country.

One major change is the dropping of former Minister Ed Husic from the Ministry and his role as Industry Minister. Mr Husic has always been supportive of Star Scientific, and we are sorry to see him go and wish him all the best. We do hope, however, that this opens the way for new Minister Tim Ayres to review the poor policy outcome in the “Future Made in Australia Act” which limits access to the hydrogen tax rebate to those who use an electrolyser of 10MW or more. Speaking to Australian delegates at the conferences we have attended has revealed much anger at this.

Second Sustainability Report to be Published

Our Second Sustainability report, for the year 2024, will soon be published on our website. As with our inaugural report it complies with the European Union regulations, which are the world’s strictest.

Notwithstanding some countries and companies walking back from sustainability measures, we at Star Scientific believe we should hold ourselves to the higher measures and back, with confidence, HERO® as a superior technology.