Ricardo hosts South Australian Government Minister for discussions on hydrogen, transport and environmental projects

Ricardo’s Adelaide team in South Australia was honoured to host a visit by the Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP, the South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining, and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, on Friday 28 June 2024.

Minister Koutsantonis was joined by Jon Whelan, the CEO of the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) and Sam Crafter, the CEO of the Office of Hydrogen Power SA (OHPSA). They were welcomed by Chris Hewitson, Director Ricardo Australia & New Zealand who introduced the Minister to Ricardo and its Adelaide team of 50 professionals who are advising private sector clients and governments on their decarbonisation and water security journeys. 

Bringing their work to life, Chris and his team shared with Minister Koutsantonis some of their key energy, transport and environmental projects that they have been delivering for these clients. These included: support for government with Northern Water, over a decade of specialist water advisory to mining clients in SA supporting the government’s State Prosperity Project, together with the recent Net Zero Rail Feasibility and Technology Study and Net Zero Rail Strategic Business Case. 

Excitingly, Chris was able to share a hot-off-the-press update with the Minister: the announcement earlier in the week that Ricardo has been chosen by the South Australian Hydrogen Hubs Inc to lead a heavy duty vehicle hydrogen retrofit feasibility study which leans into the Hydrogen Jobs Plan and leverages Ricardo’s world-leading expertise in retrofitting. Chris was proud to share how the project supports the Minister’s goals, announced during his previous term in government, of driving towards a hydrogen economy. 

Addressing the team, Minister Koutsantonis said: “Thank you for the opportunity to meet the team at Ricardo. It’s good to put a face to the work that you do. South Australia is about to embark on some remarkable transformational projects.”
 
“We are going to need partners with capabilities here. The work that Ricardo is doing across rail, Northern Water and hydrogen is showing that we do have partners here that we can be really excited about working with. Thank you for your generosity and hospitality today but more importantly thank you for your expertise and your work – it doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Chris Hewitson said: “We were honoured to welcome Minister Koutsantonis to the Ricardo office to meet our team and to be able to share the work that we do. In return, it was fascinating to hear first-hand from such a key senior minister about some of the great ideas he and his colleagues have for South Australia, and the inroads we are making to achieving these.” 

“It was our privilege to welcome Jon Whelan, CEO of DIT and Sam Crafter, CEO of OHPSA to our office and to have the opportunity to thank them for their support in involving Ricardo in some of their most important projects and programmes.” 

“Key Ricardo experts have recently relocated to Adelaide in order to enhance our capability in key areas such as hydrogen. It is this combination of a great local team and leading global expertise which provide Ricardo’s platform from which to support the South Australia Government with its ambitions for the state. To achieve these ambitions, it takes a government with real vision for the state, that is looking beyond election cycles to set up South Australia and South Australians for a great future. We were therefore privileged to meet with a key Senior Minister from such a government today.”