Last week at the Daylesford Conversations series, Chris Rowland delivered an engaging presentation titled “Green Hydrogen: the fuel of the future – but will the future ever arrive?” to an attentive local audience.
Rowland, CEO of Hadean Energy, a pioneering deep-tech start-up, captured attention with an exploration of the hydrogen industry’s highs and lows. With Daylesford known for its commitment to sustainability and renewable energy initiatives, Rowland’s insights struck a particularly relevant chord.
Rowland provided an insightful overview of hydrogen, highlighting its role as the simplest and most abundant element in the universe. Despite this abundance, he explained, hydrogen rarely exists freely on Earth, but is commonly found bound in water or hydrocarbons. The discussion then turned to the colourful terminology used for hydrogen production methods, ranging from ‘green’ – created from renewable-powered electrolysis – to the far more carbon-intensive ‘brown’ and ‘black’ derived from coal.
Although green hydrogen has gained significant attention in recent years, Rowland candidly addressed the challenges it faces. “Green hydrogen via electrolysis has all the attributes to be a miracle fuel – but it needs work,” he remarked. He explained how global enthusiasm peaked in the early 2020s, fuelled by urgent climate goals, declining renewables costs, and supportive government policies worldwide. This enthusiasm saw investors eagerly backing ambitious projects, some of which have now struggled under technical and economic pressures.
Rowland openly discussed the realities faced by several high-profile hydrogen ventures, highlighting dramatic stock declines and cancelled projects as signs of a painful market correction. However, rather than signalling defeat, Rowland sees this phase as a critical learning period, drawing parallels with the Gartner Hype Cycle – moving from ‘Initial Hype’, through the ‘Trough of Disillusionment’ and eventually up the ‘Slope of Enlightenment’ toward practical, sustainable growth.
Looking ahead, Rowland advocated for a pragmatic approach to realising hydrogen’s potential, urging investment in technological fundamentals to help realise large-scale commercial deployment. He emphasised the need to reduce capital and operational costs and suggested partnering with industries already using hydrogen, such as fertilisers and steelmaking, to establish confidence and scale.
Encouragingly, Rowland sees a viable pathway for green hydrogen in Australia’s future. Noting recent work on green steel and e-fuels projects, he concluded optimistically: “The future of green hydrogen is bright, if we focus on the fundamentals.”
The event, hosted by the Rotary Club of Daylesford and The Wombat Post, sparked lively discussion and offered a balanced view, leaving the audience both informed and hopeful about the role hydrogen could play in our collective green energy future.
