The 58^th Executive Committee (ExCo) Meeting of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Technology Collaboration Programme on Advanced Fuel Cells (AFC TCP) was held at the Hotel Intercontinental, Pyeongchang, South Korea, during May 07-09 2019. 16 participants were present, including 9 ExCo members from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany,  Japan, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.

A focus point in this ExCo meeting was on alkaline fuel cells and the outreach meeting with the International Gangwon Hydrogen Forum.

In cooperation with the International Hydrogen Forum 2019 the ExCo took part and contributed to the main conference held on May9th on the topics “Green Hydrogen Production & Technology” as well as “P2G evidence & liquidation”. More than 500 international participants took part in this forum.

The share of renewable energy in gross electricity consumption reached 37.8% at the end of 2018 in Germany. Meanwhile, emissions of greenhouse gases declined by around 31% from 1990 to 2018 ^[1]. Germany, however aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020 and at least 55% by 2030. Massive and rapid efforts are required to achieve the set targets. Hydrogen, fuel cell and electrolysis technologies provide the base for sector coupling, which is essential to achieve the climate targets. National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology in its second phase provides the framework for R&D and market activation projects in Germany. NOW GmbH is responsible for coordinating and managing the government programme.

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy recently announced that they would provide 100 Mio Euro funding per year for “Real laboratories of the energy transition”. In 20 real laboratories nationwide, companies will be testing above all new hydrogen technologies on an industrial scale and in a real environment. In addition, the federal government will adopt a hydrogen strategy by the end of the year, in which the real laboratories are an important block ^[2].The number of public hydrogen refueling stations reached 76 as of October 2019; whereas further 11 stations were in planning, 4 in approval, 5 in execution and 7 in trial operation phase ^[3]. With these numbers, 100 public hydrogen refueling stations are expected at the beginning of 2020. Two fuel cell trains being already in regular passenger operation in Lower Saxony and a previous order of 14 trains to start operation from 2021, Alstom will deliver 27 additional fuel cell trains until the timetable change in 2022/2023. These trains will replace diesel trains in four regional railway lines in the Taunus mountain range (north of Frankfurt) ^[4].

Further highlights from the presentation included:

• Self-assembling and self-healing catalyst films for alkaline water electrolysis from Ruhr-University Bochum, Analytical Chemistry – Center for Electrochemical Sciences,
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• 400 kW PEM electrolysis stack, PEFCs for operation temperatures up to 120 °C, efficient operation strategies for DMFC, quick start for fuel processing for diesel-based APU and reversible SOC system from Forschungszentrum Jülich,
• X-EMU project for the development and validation of a high-performance fuel cell propulsion system for hybrid EMU railcars by IEM, ISEA, vka (RWTH Aachen University) and Siemens,
• Fuel cell system simulation focusing on membrane water management by Institute for Combustion Engines (vka) of RWTH Aachen University,
• Large fuel cell system for the use with diesel or methane (SchIBZ^TM project) by thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, OWI, ZBT, Sunfire, Hülsenbusch Apparatebau, Rosswag Engineering, Tec4Fuels, DNVGL, Leibniz Universität Hannover,
• Fuel cell system testing at FEV Europe GmbH, and
• Production technology for metal microstructures for fuel cells and electrolysis from Graebener.

Sources:

[1] German Environment Agency
[2] BMWi
[3] H2 Mobility
[4]Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund

The French National Hydrogen Plan (June 2018) is based on the Development of regional ecosystems of hydrogen mobility for zero emission solutions for road, rail, river, etc. transport with the deployment of:

• By 2023:
  • 5,000 light commercial vehicles and 200 heavy vehicles (buses, trucks, regional trains, boats)
  • 100 hydrogen stations to refuel vehicles with locally produced hydrogen.
• By 2028:
  • 20,000 to 50,000 light commercial vehicles and 800 to 2,000 heavy vehicles
  • 400 to 1,000 hydrogen stations.

In 2019, 100 million euros will be earmarked for the deployment of clean hydrogen. The Hydrogen Mobility Consortium gather many players of the value chain: from energy to end users.

In September 2019, 324 FCEV and 28 HRS are deployed in France and more than 80 Fuel Cell buses are planned to be deployed in the coming years.

Among the main demonstration projects, the following projects on Fuel Cells can be mentioned:

• The “Hype project”: world's first fleet of hydrogen taxis with a fleet of more than 110 Fuel cell Taxis in Paris,
• The first two hydrogen buses went into commercial operation in France in September between Versailles and Jouy-en-Josas, west-south of Paris.
• The “Zero Emission Valley” project in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region with the deployment of 1000 FCEV and 20 HRS.

Two industrial highlights can also be mentioned:

• Michelin and Faurecia announced on April 2019 the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding to create a joint venture bringing together all of Michelin’s fuel cell related activities – including its subsidiary Symbio – with those of Faurecia.
• Pragma Industries has designed αlpha, the first commercially available electrically assisted bike with a fuel cell. 200 eBikes were available for journalists during the G7 Summit in Biarritz where Chile's President ordered 1000 hydrogen eBikes for COP25 in Chile in December 2019.

On 11th November, the hydrogen electrolysis plant in Linz successfully started the production of green hydrogen. The latest PEM technology is being used in Linz, initially in the form of 12 PEM modules with a total capacity of 6 megawatts. They are able to produce 110 kg of hydrogen an hour, a level currently unmatched. The hydrogen produced is also “green”, i.e. CO₂-free, because the electricity used for electrolysis is generated from renewable sources (hydropower and wind).

The pilot project will initially run until mid-2021 and the EU will bear two thirds of the costs of EUR 18 million.

Please find more information to the project H2future here

Norwegian shipbuilder and designer Ulstein says it is ready to deliver a zero-emission offshore construction vessel within three years.

With current technology, the Ulstein SX190 design is already able to operate in zero-emission mode for four days. However, with the rapid developments in hydrogen storage and fuel cell technologies, a future zero-emission endurance of up to two weeks is targeted. For extended missions and capabilities, the vessel can fall back on its more conventional diesel-electric system using low sulfur marine diesel oil.

The SX190 Zero Emission design is based on Ulstein’s existing SX190 vessel platform and has a total installed power of 7.5 MW, of which 2 MW is generated by a fuel cell power system, typically Nedstack Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which are located in a separate, 2nd engine room

Read more here