BEYOND the walls of the Redlands Research Facility in Ormiston lies a multitude of innovative projects.
The Redlands Chamber of Commerce hosted a monthly business breakfast with an excursion to the site with special focus on the hydrogen research at the government centre.
The tour was hosted by Professor Ian McKinnon and Michelle Gane from Queensland University of Technology and facility manager Shane Holborn.
The new Hydrogen Minister Mick de Brenni, Redlands MP Kim Richards and the Mayor Karen Williams joined the group to discuss green power production.
Mr de Brenni praised Prof McKinnon and his team for making the facility a reality.
"It is exciting that government has squarely focused on putting hydrogen first... It is a unique opportunity we have as Australia is at the forefront of clean, renewable, energy and able to create jobs for the future," he said.
Chamber President Rebecca Young said one of the key outcomes of the Championing Redlands Coast report was to identify projects that contribute in a positive way to the local economy - local renewable hydrogen falls into this category
"The chamber is interested in this space as there is potential to attract new businesses to the city and decarbonise the local economy," she said.
Ms Young said the hydrogen industry will create new jobs and provide cheaper, greener power to the community.
"Imagine in five years time we were able to say that we helped change over the bus and ferry networks from diesel fuel to hydrogen, or we supported local businesses in understanding how they could turn their waste into hydrogen and make their own energy," she said.
Hydrogen research is not the only project at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries site.
Shark research, a fruit fly breeding program, research on crops and even a Wimbledon grass study are just a few of the programs under the microscope at the centre.
