Profile : Jacqui Phelps

When Jacqui Phelps finishes her internship with the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre, she will not only take away valuable knowledge and experience but will also impart her learnings to the community to help further its green hydrogen initiates.

Jacqui is halfway through her eight-week Mildura placement, which was organised through the University of Melbourne where Jacqui is completing a Master of Environmental Engineering.

Funded by the Invergowrie Foundation and McPherson Family Trust, the internship program supports women in STEM to learn about the Mallee region and take on a project focused on industry needs.

Jacqui’s project is investigating different water sources that could be used to produce hydrogen in the region.

“In the Mallee, there are many opportunities for hydrogen initiatives, particularly with freight routes, council fleets or garbage trucks, as well as many agricultural applications,” Jacqui said.

There’s a real enthusiasm to create low carbon economies and to do that in a way that boosts regional industry.

One of the aspects we are interested in understanding is how much water does it take to produce hydrogen and how does this compare to other industries? What we're seeing now is more discussion and research into these questions.

I hope this research helps to create a snapshot of how hydrogen can work with and support existing industries in the Mallee.

Jacqui’s findings could be used to inform future projects by MRIC stakeholders, demonstrating how hydrogen can be produced without interrupting water usages and water businesses.

The internship has also involved shadowing the Centre’s CEO Rebecca Wells and has exposed Jacqui to various industries and allowed her to meet many different people.

“Coming from Melbourne, it’s been really interesting to go out into a regional community and learn about all of the roles in water systems and industry,” Jacqui said.

“The scale of production that’s happening in the region is impressive and I’ve been so impressed by everyone I’ve met and all the amazing things they’re doing.”