The opportunity for next-generation energy storage continues to grow, and GreenHy2 Limited (ASX:H2G) has taken a step forward by signing a contract with European supplier H2Core.

The agreement provides GreenHy2 with access to leading-edge supercapacitor battery and hydrogen storage technologies, offering significant advantages in cost, safety, and operational efficiency over traditional solutions.

Supercapacitor Batteries Promise Major Step Change

GreenHy2’s new agreement unlocks advanced battery storage systems, with particular focus on graphene-based supercapacitor batteries.

The company highlights that these supercapacitors are now competitive on a capital cost basis with traditional lithium-ion batteries. Operating costs are significantly lower, and lifespan is extended by at least five times.

GreenHy2 believes that the significant reduction in cost for its graphene-based 100 per cent supercapacitor battery solution now provides both the benefits of Lithium Ion and Hydrogen combined without the disadvantages.

Key Advantages Over Lithium-Ion and Hydrogen

The newly secured supercapacitor batteries deliver 500,000 cycles at cell level — translating to 25–40 years of operational life with three cycles per day. For comparison, lithium-ion solutions typically last between 6–10 years and hydrogen-based systems approximately 30 years.

GreenHy2  is also of the view that because the batteries are 100 per cent supercapacitor they significantly outperform hybrid batteries (partial supercapacitor and partial Lithium Ion).

Additionally, the batteries feature 100 per cent depth of discharge — outperforming lithium-ion systems (which achieve only 75–80 per cent) and matching hydrogen storage. This effectively offers up to 25 per cent more usable capacity per kWh rating.

Safety is another key benefit. The company highlighted that there is no thermal runaway and the supercapacitors are simpler to use than hydrogen, and that the fire risk for its supercapacitor batteries is extremely low.

Performance and Environmental Benefits

Round-trip efficiency of over 99 per cent positions the technology well ahead of lithium-ion (90 per cent) and hydrogen (30–85 per cent). Charge times are measured in minutes rather than hours, and discharge rates can be up to five times higher than existing battery technologies.

The batteries are also capable of operating between -30°C and +70°C with no cooling requirements, adding flexibility for deployment across various environments.

Crucially, GreenHy2 emphasised the decarbonisation potential, claiming that pure supercapacitor batteries are 100 per cent static electricity storage and therefore do not require exotic material or mined resources and are manufactured using synthetic graphene.

Low-Pressure Hydrogen Complements Battery Solutions

While supercapacitors will replace lithium-ion in many use cases, hydrogen storage remains a critical part of the company’s strategy for seasonal energy storage.

The company is of the view that low-pressure hydrogen (LPH) storage technology is simple and cost competitive with Li Ion capex solutions with improved safety and lower operational cost.

This technology is already being integrated into GreenHy2’s existing projects. LPH is being implemented on GreenHy2’s  Telstra contract and will provide Telstra with over 50 per cent cost saving compared to the previous hydrogen technology.

LPH solutions also offer safety and practicality benefits, with no thermal management required and virtually zero self-discharge, making them well-suited to large, long-term energy storage.

Manufacturing Advances Unlock Scale

The company is also confident it can achieve scalability. It believes that the limitation until now of providing large scale supercapacitor batteries has been cost. However, advances in manufacturing graphene have made it possible to provide the majority of storage in supercapacitors and taking advantage of their considerable benefits over other technologies.

As part of its broader strategy, GreenHy2 confirmed it will move to supercapacitor batteries for startup and balancing requirements in its hydrogen systems, reinforcing the complementary nature of both technologies.