Russell James

Russell James is General Manager Hydrogen & Future Fuels for ATCO Australia.

With a career spanning more than two decades in the energy industry, Russell James is a leading expert in hydrogen and future fuels innovation in Australia, representing ATCO as a keynote speaker and panellist at hydrogen events nationally and applying this expertise to Board roles in the last two years.

In his time at ATCO Australia, Russell has worked specifically on advancing hydrogen and for the last eight years has been a driving force behind the organisation’s pioneering developments in the hydrogen and clean fuels industry, including ATCO’s world-class Clean Energy Innovation Hub (CEIH) at its Jandakot operations – a commercial scale renewable H2 production project comprising a demonstration of solar, battery and renewable hydrogen production through electrolysis.

Russell has also played critical roles in securing projects for ATCO, including the Hydrogen Jobs Plan in South Australia – a 250MW electrolyser and 200MW Hydrogen Power Station in a consortium with BOC Linde, and advancing its ‘ScaleH2’ initiative through securing funding from the Federal Government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for feasibility work on a renewable hydrogen export value chain from New South Wales (NSW) to Germany.

Russell was elected Chairperson of the South Australian Hydrogen (SAH2H) Technology Cluster in November 2024 and has served for two years on the Sustainable Built Environment National research centre governing board. He is passionate for sharing and growing the hydrogen industry, not only in Australia but across the globe.

Russell is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Directors and was voted on to the AHC board in September 2024.