Here we are, one year away from the time we went on lockdown. Many things have happened in twelve months: the European Commission launched the Hydrogen Strategy and the Clean Hydrogen Alliance (July 2020); we had the very first edition of the European Hydrogen Week (November 2020). More recently, the Commission released the Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the European Partnership for Clean Hydrogen (February 2021). The new partnership should strengthen and integrate Union’s scientific capacity to accelerate the development and improvement of advanced clean hydrogen applications ready for market, across energy, transport, building and industrial end-uses.
The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is Europe’s clear commitment to future-proof our energy system through the development of the hydrogen market whilst reinforcing the EU’s role as a world leader in clean hydrogen technologies. We welcome the proposal of the European Commission and look forward to shaping the future of a green and competitive European economy together with the other partnerships.
The European Commission presented on 23 February 2021 its proposal to set-up 10 new European Partnerships and invest nearly €10 billion for the green and digital transition. Among these, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership will be building on the work of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking....
CURRENT CALL FOR TENDERS: Study on Impact of Deployment of battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Fuel Cells Electric Vehicles (FCEV) Infrastructure
fch [BE], 04.03.2021
The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) is planning to award a contract for this topic. If you are interested in this contract, you should submit a tender via e-Submission. All the documents of this tender procedure are available at the following link:
Hydrogen Valleys have recently become a global phenomenon, with integrated, complex projects emerging across the world in a drive to accelerate the development of the hydrogen-driven economy.
The H2Haul project , co-funded by the FCH JU, is proud to announce that it received today the Hydrogen Transport Award at the first edition of the World Hydrogen Awards organised by the Sustainable Energy Council. The Annual World Hydrogen Awards honour the outstanding contributions of companies and....
COSMHYC project. Bringing hydrogen compression from concept to reality
fch, 12.03.2021
Compression of Hydrogen at refuelling stations is a key technical and economic challenge for the deployment of hydrogen mobility. Due to its low density, hydrogen has to be stored onboard at pressures up to 70 MPA (700 bar). This requires a compression system in the refuelling station.
A four-year FCH JU-funded project (2017-2020), COSMHYC (Compression of Hydrogen at refuelling Stations) developed an innovative hybrid compression solution focusing in particular on improving performance, lowering costs and reducing the noise level produced by the mechanical processor.
Impact of COSMHYC project:
Development of prototypes for the metal hybrid (MH) and the mechanical compressors. The prototypes will soon be tested within the COSMHYC DEMO, the successor project recently launched in February 2021. COSMHYC DEMO will demonstrate the system developed by previous projects (COSMHYC and COSMHYC XL) in a real-life hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) servicing a fleet of Fuel Cell Electriv Vehicles (FCEV) and compressing up to 200kg of hydrogen per day. Details about the COSMHYC DEMO project can be found here.
Increase energy efficiency while optimising the temperature of operation for the MH (<150 degrees)
Reduced noise levels related to the mechanical processor. The noise levels at a 5 m distance recorded 53,4 – 69,9 dB
Decreased investments and operational costs. By redesigning the prototypes to allow an easy access to the subsystems, maintenance of HRS is facilitated. Moreover, improved manufacturing process focused on the modular design of the station assures the scalability of the prototype
In March 2020, in a tender launched by German operator Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK), Solaris Bus & Coach was selected to supply 15 state-of-the-art Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen buses.
HEAVEN: "It is the first time that a fuel cell and a liquid hydrogen tank have been included in a piloted platform, and this give us an advantage over other initiatives"
Heaven, 10.03.2021
(...) Even with hydrogen, if you burn it, you produce NOx and the typical contrail seen behind airplanes. The best system under development is the fuel cell and hydrogen system, but ...
"For the industrialisation of the sector hydrogen, an important link is still missing: the large-scale storage," estimates Germain Hurtado, director of Hypster, project specifically designed to test underground storage in saline cavities in real conditions, tested for natural gas.
Original text: « Pour l'industrialisation de la filière hydrogène, il manque encore un maillon important : le stockage à grande échelle », estime Germain Hurtado, directeur du projet Hypster, qui vise justement à tester en conditions réelles le stockage souterrain en cavités salines, éprouvé pour le gaz naturel.
A European consortium consisting of 25 leading organisations in the hydrogen sector are joining forces to define, develop and test the first European standard for fuel cell modules for heavy duty applications.
H2ME: Completion of the first phase of Hydrogen Mobility Europe
h2me [BE], 13.01.2021
A flagship project for hydrogen mobility involving nearly 50 organisations at the forefront of the sector has today published its final report detailing the key findings and learnings. The findings are released at a crucial time as the European Green Deal seeks a 90% reduction in transport related emissions by 2050.
High-quality, high-purity and cost-effective hydrogen is essential for the commercial take off of fuel cells and other applications. The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) is addressing this cost-vs-quality challenge (...)
Fuel cell micro combined heat and power units (μCHP) enable homes to produce much of their own electricity, heat and hot water. The FCH JU has been instrumental in the development, testing and commercialisation of this cutting-edge clean and low-emission technology.
Last year, with the support of INA, the City of Zagreb successfully applied for the "Hydrogen" project at the open invitation of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU)...
FCH JU's collaborative priorities have always included a close working relationship with the Joint Research Centre (JRC), an independent science and knowledge service that supports EU policies.
In the past years the costs of fuel cells have dropped considerably but a number of rare metals needed, in particular platinum group metals (PGM), still add to the overall cost. Reducing the use of these platinum group metals (PGM) in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is a clear priority at European level.
Several FCH JU-funded projects have been investigating how to reduce or completely displace PGM while ensuring that the cell’s key performance indicators (power density and durability) continue to improve. VOLUMETRIQ, INSPIRE, PEGASUS, CRESCENDO and GAIA have been working to develop solutions to make proton-exchange membrane fuel cells a lot more affordable.
Scheduled to present final results at the end of 2021, CRESCENDO and PEGASUS are making progress in increasing the effectiveness of Fe-N-C catalysts and reaching the objective of 0.42W/cm2 @0.7V power density.
Another FCH JU project – GAIA, has been developing high performance automotive membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) that integrate new materials and designs to reach the cost target (6€/kW) and providing high power density at high current density (1.8W/cm2 @0.6V – operational targets set by the call). The progress made in the first half of the project fill us with confidence that GAIA will reach its goals by the project end.
Key achievements of FCH JU projects
Reduction of ->90 % in Pt loading (from 1.5 g/kW in 2008 to 0.11 g/kW in 2020
Single cell power density of 1.6 W/cm2 using 0.11 g Pt/kW, exceeding by about 35% the FCH JU KPI set up for 2020
Of the 228 large-scale hydrogen projects announced worldwide, 126 are in Europe, according to a report published on Wednesday 17 February by the Hydrogen Council, a global initiative bringing together companies active in the hydrogen sector.
Kitti Nyitrai, a member of the European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson’s Cabinet, discusses the future of renewable hydrogen, from policy frameworks to R&D, and its key role in Europe’s green future.
Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in a future climate-neutral economy, enabling emission-free transport, heating and industrial processes as well as inter-seasonal energy storage.
New report shows significant volume of investment in hydrogen projects as well as policy and funding support as industry enters 2021; 200+ large-scale projects have been announced across the value chain, with a total value exceeding $300 billion; 30+ countries have national hydrogen strategies in place, and public funding is growing.
Transforming the energy sector in Poland, which depends on coal for more than 70% of power production, is among the top challenges identified in the national recovery plan. The overhaul will be “extremely costly” but in the longer term green technologies may become the driving force of the economy, according to the government in Warsaw.
The emerging partnership portfolio proposed by the European Commission for the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Framework includes Zero Emission Waterborne Transport , a new partnership focused on waterborne transport, as well as Clean Hydrogen for Europe, the successor of the existing....
For short-haul flying, SAFs are only an interim step, similar to offsetting, until zero-emissions technologies, such as hydrogen or electric propulsion aircraft, will be available by the mid to late-2030s. These new, zero-emissions technologies, however, are not available for long-haul aviation in the foreseeable future (...)
Order placed with bremenports / Senator Schilling: “Important competitive factor amongst the seaports in future” At its session today (2 March 2021), Bremen’s Senate resolved to commission a study on hydrogen to obtain a basis within the near future for making....
Rouen Métropole. Eleven bus hydrogen-driven complementary electric bus, delivered in 2022 08:12 Rouen (Rouen Métropole. Onze bus à hydrogène, en complément des bus électriques, livrés en 2022 08:12 Rouen)
The Bourgogne-Franche-Comté paves the way for hydrogen-driven trains in France (La Bourgogne-Franche-Comté ouvre la voie des trains à hydrogène en France)
After Germany in 2018, then Italy in 2020, France is finally getting ready to place orders for hydrogen trains to Alstom, the first producer of hydrogen train for passenger transport.
Original text:
Après l'Allemagne en 2018, puis l'Italie en 2020, la France s'apprête enfin à passer commande de trains hydrogène à Alstom, l'inventeur du premier train passager de l'histoire du rail doté de cette propulsion.
Electro-hydrogen hybridization is at the heart of the propulsion system of The New Era by HYNOVA Yachts, the first dayboat equipped with a REXH2® running on hydrogen and currently in approval phase.
Celebrate International Women’s Day with H2 View (...) as we bring you a special series of interviews featuring 10 women working in the hydrogen industry. We’ve got 10 exclusive interviews to share with you (...)
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