North Queensland schools race to global hydrogen stage
World-renowned school-based science and engineering program - Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) - is coming to Townsville.
The well-established event has been nurturing the talent of the world’s future renewable energy leaders through competitions in Australia since 2023, around the world since 2015 and will now welcome North Queensland to its growing list of regions.
Seven schools from Townsville have already secured their spots in the race, with an additional two schools from Ingham, one from Mackay and one from Cairns also set to participate.
CQUniversity is the presenting partner of the race and H2GP event organiser and CQU Project Manager for the CQ Hydrogen Community Hub Dr Cal Devney said it was exciting to see the project expand into North Queensland.
“CQUniversity has been the key partner in delivering the H2GP in Gladstone, Central Queensland for the past two years and we’re thrilled to be able to expand its reach to Townsville and North Queensland,” Dr Devney said.
Dr Devney said CQU was proud to work with Horizon Educational, local stakeholders including Townsville Enterprise, and local industry to engage a new generation of leaders and equip them with new skills and knowledge.
“The actual race will be the culmination of a six-month-long STEM education program, which has kicked off in Term 4, where students are currently working with teammates and industry mentors to design, engineer and construct their very own hydrogen-powered cars,” Dr Devney explained.
“Each of the teams will put their renewable energy engineering skills to the test, racing their self-built 1:10-scale hydrogen-powered cars over a four-hour ‘endurance race’.”
Dr Devney said the race will be held on Wednesday, 14 May 2025 with the support of several industry and government partners.
The confirmed schools for the North Queensland race include Northern Beaches SHS, sponsored by Mike Carney Toyota, Pimlico SHS, sponsored by Ark Energy, William Ross SHS, sponsored by NQH2 (hosted by Townsville Enterprise Limited), Thuringowa SHS, sponsored by Civil Geotechnical Consultants, St Patrick’s College (two teams), sponsored by Edify Energy and Siemens Energy, Southern Cross Catholic College and St Anthony’s Catholic College.
The schools that will travel from other regions include Ingham SHS, Gilroy Santa Maria College in Ingham, Trinity Anglican School in Cairns, sponsored by CQUniversity, and Mackay’s Northern Beaches SHS.
Pimlico State High School has participated in H2GP for the past two years and Head of Science Department Donagh Galletly said she was thrilled to see an event be hosted in Townsville.
"This program is an amazing opportunity for students to build their knowledge in a variety of STEM fields as well as develop essential 21st century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication," Ms Galletly said.
"The four-hour race is a real pressure cooker environment for the students where they need to put all of these skills into use to solve real issues as quickly as possible. I have been impressed in our two years of involvement how our students and other teams have handled this like professionals."
The winner of the race will advance to the Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix World Final, to be held in late 2025.
Horizon Educational CEO Kamil Jelinek said bringing the H2GP to Townsville for the first time would boost much-needed renewable energy engineering skills in the region’s future workforce.
“While students design, engineer and construct their hydrogen-powered cars today - tomorrow they’ll be fuelling innovation, creating the electrolysers, solar panels and wind turbines that will power Australia for decades to come,” he said.
"Horizon H2GP fosters student learning about renewable energies, design technologies, engineering, problem-solving and teamwork."
North Queensland Hydrogen Consortium lead, and Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith is proud to partner with H2GP in bringing a program of global scale to Townsville.
“Townsville stands at the forefront of a green energy revolution, and hydrogen specifically presents an exciting opportunity for the next generation of North Queenslanders to lead the way in sustainable energy solutions,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
“The region continues to attract global investment from countries such as Germany and Korea, and with such innovative industries at the helm of this renewables movement, being able to deliver an educational program of this calibre is a testament to region’s approach to collaboration and focus on the future.
“Investing in our future innovators and leaders through hands-on and industry-led opportunities, such as the H2 Grand Prix, is critical as we foster a workforce that will drive our region's economic growth and sustainability.”