Robert Holt

Robert Holt

Principal Engineer

Applied Technologies

Engineering for sustainable future

I enjoy working in sustainable energy system design as a Principal Engineer in the Advanced Mechatronics group based in the Gracefield Innovation Quarter, Lower Hutt. Energy has always been important to me and my working life began working in civil nuclear power designing robot arms (manipulators) as an electronics engineer and system designer.

Nowadays, locally produced hydrogen from renewable electricity is a major focus of mine, supporting our HyLink System. This generates hydrogen from electricity produced by a renewable energy system. It is stored underground from where it can later be drawn for heating or cooking, providing safe, clean, and reliable power. We hosted a pōwhiri for distinguished International Energy Agency guests from the USA and Japan at which we used the HyLink System to power a barbeque that fed 50 guests.

I was delighted to join the Clean Technology team, led by Alister Gardiner, investigating local hydrogen generation and storage that led to HyLink. My work is directed towards enabling a cleaner, more sustainable world in which people have access to the energy they need for life.

Areas of expertise
  • Renewable Energy System design and review
  • Hydrogen equipment and usage
  • Electrolyser design
  • Decarbonisation
  • Electronic systems engineering
  • Bespoke measurement systems
Education
  • BSc (hons) ARCS, Physics, Imperial College of Science and Technology, 1980
  • MSc, Physics, Victoria University Wellington, 2005
Memberships and awards
  • MIET (Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology)
  • CEng (Chartered Engineer)
Selected publications
  • Plasmonically Coupled Semiconductor Quantum Dots for Efficient Hydrogen Photocatalysis, Mohsin Ijaz, Hao Zhang , Sanutep V.  Chan, Robert Holt , Nathaniel J.L.K. Davis and Richard J. Blaikie, in press (2023)
  • In situ synchrotron XRD investigation of the dehydration and high temperature carbonation of Ca(OH)2, V. Materić, B. Ingham and R. Holt, CrystEngComm, 18 Aug (2015),17, 7306-7315 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5CE01379H
  • Investigation of the friability of Ca looping sorbents during and after hydration based reactivation, Vlatko Materic, Margaret Hyland, Mark Ian Jones, Robert Holt, Fuel, Volume 127, 1 July 2014, Pages 70-77 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236113009046
  • An internally circulating fluid bed for attrition testing of Ca looping sorbents, Vlatko Materic, Robert Holt, Margaret Hyland, Mark I. Jones, Fuel, Volume 127, 1 July 2014, Pages 116-123,  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001623611301020X
  • Measurement of polymer shear modulus using thickness shear acoustic waves, Robert C. Holt, Gideon J. Gouws, John. Z. Zhen, Current Applied Physics, Volume 6, Issue 3, June 2006, Pages 334-339,  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567173905002531
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