(22 April 2024) The results of the third TERA-Award Smart Energy Innovation Competition have been announced. The Gold Award and a prize of US$1 million were won by a project of advanced alkaline hydrogen-producing equipment from a Chinese research team, which significantly reduced the cost of hydrogen production, and was highly praised by the judges. The Silver Award went to an Israeli team that developed a new way to store hydrogen at close-to-ambient temperature and pressure. Another Chinese team won the Bronze Award for its development of a new material that can absorb and store heat or cold energy from very low to very high temperatures.

Dr Lee Ka-kit (4th from left), Founder of the TERA-Award; Mr Michael Wong Wai-lun, GBS, JP (4th from right), Deputy Financial Secretary of the HKSAR; Dr Colin Lam Ko-yin (3rd from left), Executive Director of Henderson Land Development Company Limited; Mr Peter Wong Wai-yee (3rd from right), Managing Director of Towngas; Mr Alan Chan Ying-lung (2nd from right), Executive Chairman of the TERA-Award Organising Committee; Dr Ted Chang Chia-yuen (2nd from left), Member of the TERA-Award Judging Panel and CTO of Quanta Computer; and Dr John Qiu Jian-hang (1st from left), Chief Operating Officer – Renewable Business of Towngas; and Mr Don Cheng Hill-kwong (1st from right), Head of Commercial – Hong Kong Utility and Head of Sustainable Green Energy Hub of Towngas, at the third TERA-Award Award Presentation Ceremony.

The award presentation ceremony for the third TERA-Award was held on 22 April, “Earth Day”. Participating research teams, startups, and investors from various regions gathered at Hong Kong Science Park to witness the rise of more zero-carbon innovations.

The Gold Award winner, which received a US$1 million prize, is Hua Xia Hydrogen Technology from China. The company has developed a high-efficiency design for hydrogen production through water electrolysis, requiring less than 4.3 kWh of DC power per cubic metre of hydrogen. It is suitable for direct hydrogen production from renewable energy, significantly reducing equipment costs and improving overall equipment performance and long-term operational stability. This hydrogen production technology can be widely applied in industrial, transportation, power, and construction scenarios, providing low-cost solutions for hydrogen production and utilisation. Mr Gao Xiaoping, Chairman and General Manager of Hua Xia Hydrogen Technology, stated that being awarded the Gold Prize at the TERA-Award would greatly help accelerate the industrialisation of their equipment.

The Silver Award project, “Reshaping H2 Storage and Transportation”, comes from an Israeli research team. The team uses water and bicarbonate to store hydrogen, offering advantages such as being non-toxic, non-flammable and non-explosive. It can also be transported at close-to-ambient temperature and pressure, reducing the cost of hydrogen storage and transportation to below US$1 per kilogram.

The Bronze Award project replaces traditional cooling or heating solutions with high-efficiency phase change material (PCM) technology. PCM can absorb and store thermal energy or cold energy at temperatures ranging from -150°C to 1,000°C. PCM has achieved significant breakthroughs in material stability, environmental friendliness, and lifespan. This technology can be applied in scenarios such as air conditioning, cold storage, and data centres, providing safer and more stable temperature control while achieving zero-carbon peak shifting and energy savings of up to 20%.

The Pioneer Awards of this competition were awarded to teams from Gazelle Wind Power Limited in Ireland and Shenzhen Powdered Carbon Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The former is a patented floating offshore wind power generation platform that significantly reduces the amount of steel required and adopts modular component shipbuilding, which has less impact on the seabed and enhances stability. The latter collects carbon dioxide from industrial waste gases through its unique “electrochemistry + synthetic biology” cascading technology. Using synthetic biology technology, it replaces grains in the production of alternative proteins, agricultural microbial fertilisers, and fine chemical products, earning them the Pioneer Award.

The third TERA-Award has attracted 450 zero-carbon entrepreneurial projects from 59 countries and regions worldwide, an increase of more than 60% compared with the previous year. Dr Lee Ka-kit, Founder of the TERA-Award, feels encouraged by this, “The TERA-Award is no longer just a competition; it has become a gathering platform for global energy technology innovation entrepreneurs, providing comprehensive services for scientists to bring their research results to the market. I am also pleased to announce that in the future, the TERA-Award brand will be elevated from a competition to an accelerator platform for zero-carbon technologies. I hereby call for and welcome more global zero-carbon technology entrepreneurs to join the TERA-Award family and work together to create a more sustainable future through technological innovation!”

The officiating guest, Mr Michael Wong Wai-lun, Deputy Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said, “I am grateful to TERA-Award for bringing together innovative talents from around the world through this competition to contribute to the realisation of the zero-carbon vision. Your participation is crucial for environmental protection and carbon reduction. I encourage all teams to implement their solutions as soon as possible. In the future, the HKSAR Government will continue to work hand in hand with all sectors to jointly develop zero-carbon innovations.”

On the same day, a seminar and exhibition of outstanding projects were also held. Professor Gong Peng, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development) of The University of Hong Kong; Professor Lu Yi-chun, Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Luquos Energy; Dr Martin Zhu Yihao, CEO and Co-founder of i2Cool; Dr John Qiu Jian-hang, Chief Operating Officer – Renewable Business of Towngas; Mr Don Cheng Hill-kwong, Head of Commercial – Hong Kong Utility and Head of Sustainable Green Energy Hub of Towngas; and shortlisted TERA-Award teams from various regions discussed multiple topics such as the earth crisis, new energy, and zero-carbon innovative technologies.

Two hundred investors, research teams, and energy industry professionals attended and participated in the series of events of the TERA-Award. Mr James Tam, Partner of Bain Capital Private Equity (Asia), LLC, said, “I am delighted that this year’s TERA-Award competition has attracted startups from around the world with carbon-neutral technologies. The entries are of high quality, diverse, and have a wide range of excellent applications, especially in the fields of energy storage and hydrogen energy, which are major trends for the future. Our company is also willing to invest in promising innovative solutions in these areas and even provide application scenarios to help transform innovative concepts into commercialised results, accelerating their implementation.”

The third TERA-Award is jointly organised by The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) and the State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC). The Award is committed to creating a globalised entrepreneurial service platform that integrates application scenarios, prizes, and investments. In addition to the US$1 million prize for the Gold Award project, the winning teams also have the opportunity to receive support from investors and enterprises to implement their projects. Experts and investors from different fields will communicate with the winning teams to help the projects grow and be implemented quickly. The third TERA-Award competition continues the theme of “Exploring Zero-Carbon Innovations for the Future” to discover innovative technologies and solutions for smart energy worldwide, helping the country move towards the “30-60” dual carbon goals.

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