A new startup is seeking to solve some of the hardest problems in the transition to renewable energy.

Energy storage startup Endua - backed by venture capital firm Main Sequence, CSIRO and Ampol - has been launched to build hydrogen-powered energy storage, aimed at delivering sustainable, reliable and affordable power at a moment’s notice. 

Endua has gained $5 million in funding, technology and industry expertise from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency; Main Sequence, the deep tech investment fund founded by CSIRO; and Ampol, the country’s largest fuel network. 

Currently, off-grid industries and regional communities often rely on expensive and high-emitting diesel generators. 

But Endua says its hydrogen-based technology will make it possible for regional communities, towns and industries like mines and remote infrastructure to become self-sustaining from the grid, using only renewables.

The company is working on combining clean power generation and storage in a modular power bank that can drive power loads of up to 150kW. 

The company will use new electrolysis technology developed at CSIRO to produce hydrogen within the device, leveraging the agency’s science and experience to make it possible to store and deliver renewable energy in a cost-effective way compared to traditional fossil fuel sources like diesel generators.

Sales will initially focus on the off-grid diesel generator market, which accounts for $1.5 billion of diesel and 200,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.