In view of the launch of the European Energy Programme for Recovery, the EU Green Car Initiative, Clean Bus Financing Facility and Renewable Energy Financing Facility the EHA invited the European Investment Bank to its AGM and European National Association Meeting (ENAM) on June 17, 2009 in Brussels to explain more details on these ancing programmes. In addition the upcoming call for proposals of the Joint Undertaking for fuel cells and hydrogen, JU FCH, this June and the contribution of the EHA and national associations will be discussed with the chair of the JU FCH Governing Board, Gijs van Breda Vriesman. The ENAM focussed this year on leveraging EU, national and local funding and the dissemination of relevant JU FCH results and developments. In collaboration with its national associations the EHA is also developmenting key messages to the newly elected EU decision makers. All presentations of the event are availble to EHA members on the intranet site.
The EHA was invited by the Hydrogen section of the Hungarian Energy Association, member of the EHA, to meet potential stakeholders in Hungary to facilitate the development of the Hungarian Strategic Research Agenda for hydrogen and fuel cells that is currently being undertaken by the Central Hungarian Innovation Centre with the support of the Hydrogen section. Together with Hydrogen section’s president Antal Ferenc Kovács of EETEK, a renewable energy investment company in Budapes, the EHA visited MOL the Hungarian petrol and gas company and MVM, the Hungarian Power company. MOL and Slovnaft currently operate more than 800 filling stations in 7 CEE countries. INA, a MOL Group strategic partner, operates a further 456 sites in 3 countries. MOL has offered to review the Strategic Research Agenda and to verify potential involvement of MOL in future hydrogen developments. The EHA together with Dr. Kovacs also met with Dr Károly Gerse, senior deputy CEO of MVM, the Hungarian power company. Dr. Gerse showed us the fuel cell bicycle HyGo that was developed with MVM support by the University of Budapest and that is being demosntrated in the hall of MVM’s head office in Budapest. Dr. Gerse explained that MVM would be interested [...]
The Environment Council on June 25, 2009 agreeed to more flexibiliy for Member States in implementing the IPPC Directive. According to Directive proposal put forward by the Commission in 2007 52,000 industrial operators will need to obtain permits from national authorities to release pollutants into the air, soil or water. The Commission originally proposed to tighten emissions limit values by forcing plants to adopt Best Available Techniques (BATs) by 2016. Environment ministers agreed to a Czech proposal to apply current BATs to new combustion plants earlier than envisaged by the Commission, within two years after the entry into force of the directive. For existing plants, the deadline was set to 2016, with a transition period. The Czech presidency had also suggested giving national authorities until the end of 2019 to define “transitional national plans” for reducing emissions of NOx, SO2 and dust, with a gradual decline in annual national ceilings. However a group of Member States led by the UK, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania, ministers decided to extend this flexibility by another year – until the end of 2020 – in order to give member states more flexibility. The Council also set a 96% rate of desulphurisation of fossil fuels for LCPs [...]
A public consultation on rules to govern the future auctioning of emission allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been launched by consultants working for the European Commission. The consultation forms part of the Commission’s preparation of a Regulation on auctioning of allowances with respect to the third and later trading periods. In accordance with the revision of the Emissions Trading Directive agreed as part of the EU climate and energy package in December last year, the Commission has to adopt a Regulation by 30 June 2010 to ensure that auctioning is conducted in an open, transparent, harmonised and non-discriminatory manner.From 2013 at least half of the allowances under the EU ETS will be auctioned instead of being allocated to businesses free of charge. A smooth introduction of auctioning is therefore of crucial importance for the continued efficient functioning of the EU ETS and for protecting confidence in the market for emission allowances.The consultation covers all aspects of auctioning that may be relevant for the future Regulation. It seeks views notably on the timing, size and frequency of auctions, auction design and regulatory aspects relating to issues such as pre-registration of participants, collateral, payment and delivery, information [...]
The European Commission has published an online consultation to seek input on the review of the Action Plan for Energy Efficiency (EEAP). EU Heads of States and Governments have endorsed an ambitious European Energy policy which seeks to enable the European Union to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 20 %, to reduce energy consumption by 20 % and increase to 20 % the share of renewable energies in energy consumption by 2020. The EEAP of 2006 was prepared and adopted with a view to intensify the process of realising the substantial cost-effective energy savings potential and the above-mentioned target on energy consumption reduction. The Plan’s running time is until 2012. A major mid-term review to evaluate its effectiveness and results was scheduled to take place in 2009. This internet consultation will support this evaluation and revision. It aims to collect views from interested parties on the effectiveness and results of the Action Plan so far, and on how best the EU may identify and initiate improved policy actions and measures which contribute to a maximum extent to the EU’s energy saving targets. The consultation will be open till August 3, 2009.
On the site of the OMV service station at Stuttgart Airport, OMV in cooperation with Linde AG and Daimler AG is opening Baden-Württemberg’s first publicly accessible hydrogen filling station on 17 June 2009. The cooperation between the participating companies is subsidised by the State of Baden-Württemberg. The hydrogen filling station will serve fuel-cell vehicles of the latest generation, such as the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL, with 700-bar high-pressure technology. Small-series production of this vehicle is to commence later this year in Germany. “By entering the field of hydrogen technology we are protecting natural resources, while at the same time reducing our dependence on the import of fossil fuels,” said Baden-Württemberg’s Minister-President Günther H. Oettinger. The establishment of a public hydrogen infrastructure is considered by all parties to be crucial to the successful introduction of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Clusters in Berlin and Hamburg have already been established. Of the currently almost 30 hydrogen stations in Germany, six are integrated into public filling station operations. The cooperative project being carried out at Stuttgart Airport’s OMV filling station is now Germany’s seventh publicly accessible hydrogen station and the first in the State of Baden-Württemberg.
In the he German cities Bottrop and Gladbeck two low-floor fuel cell midibuses will be aprt of regular public transport service by Vestische Strassenbahnen GmbH, a regional transit authority. The midibus was developed by the German company Hydrogenics GmbH (a subsidiary of Canadian Hydrogenics Corporation), with financial support of the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Commission trought the HYCHAIN project. According to Hydrogenics, there are now ten of such buses in operation throughout Europe. Coming up to the 2010 Essen World Hydrogen Conference, the rather modest fleet should grow substantially. Deployment of the Midibuses is part of European project HYCHAIN MINI-TRANS. Within the project, four EU regions in France, Spain, Germany and Italy are developing a technical platform for a range of fuel cell-powered vehicles. The project’s aim is to demonstrate viability (technical, economic, and of public acceptance) of real-life deployment of fuel cell technologies and to establish the critical volume to trigger a steady reduction of production and operational costs. An Air Liquide hydrogen station is refulling the buses at the Gladbeck headquarters of Hydrogenics. Between refills, a midibus can keep going for around two hundred kilometres or nine hours of typical operation, carrying a maximum of 22 [...]
H2IT, the Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, is collaborating with Italy’s biggest industry organisation Confindustria to establish an Italian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Platform, H2CC. At the H2IT Annual General Meeting on June 26, 2009 form 1030 till 1230 in Milan, similar initiatives in other EU countries and the status of the work in Italy will presented. H2IT will aslo report on its efforts to secure hydrogen and fuel cell applications at the World Expo 2015 that will be held in milan For more information on the work of H2IT and Italiian hydrogen developments please visit the H2IT website.
Empa a Swiss interdisciplinary research and services institution for material sciences and technology development, home of the Swiss Hydrogen Association “Hydropole”, and Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) in cooperation with Bucher Schörling, Proton Motor, BRUSA Elektronik AG, and Messer Switzerland have developed a communal vehicle running on hydrogen. „Bucher CityCat H2“ is the first vehicle of this kind in the world with fuel cell drive and will be tested for 18 months in different cities and communities in normal operation. The 55 kW Diesel engine and the hydraulic drive were replaced by a 20 kW fuel cell, electric motors, and a 7.5 kg H2 storage system. Using vehicles like this in areas like pedestrian zones and station halls or even in closed rooms like exhibition halls reduces the air pollution considerably in comparison to conventional vehicles usually running on Diesel. More info at the EMPA site.