Regions and municipalities in the Öresund – Kattegat – Skagerrak area have expressed a political will to enforce the use of emission-free vehicles. Next Move is an EU-funded project that facilitates cooperation across borders to meet strategic challenges like purchasing and service, for the regions and municipalities that want to become early users of these vehicles.
On 13th June 2011 the Spanish Hydrogen Association organized in collaboration with car manufacturer, Honda the “Official Presentation of the FCX Clarity in Madrid”. The major of Madrid took part in the event as well as the General Director of the Ministry of Industry. The President of the Spanish Association also gave a presentation which explored the status of hydrogen development, deployment, and research in Spain.
Along with the summer sun comes new opportunity and milestones for the future of hydrogen and fuel cell promotion and deployment.
The French Hydrogen Association (AFH2) and the French Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Platform (HyPaC) will join their efforts to accelerate the hydrogen and fuel cell technologies’ deployment in France in a new strong national structure which will federate the hydrogen and fuel cell community in France.
Materials Handling applications received a lift when Ballard Power Systems committed to purchase a minimum 3,250 fuel cell stacks over the next 18-month period, for use in the material handling market. The HyLIFT-DEMO project held it’s second project meeting this month in Herning, Denmark. During the meeting the prototype forklift for the project was presented. EHA is a partner in both HyLIFT-DEMO and the SHEL project, which will demonstrate fuel cell and hydrogen forklift truck applications in various sites in Europe.
Fuel Cell and Hydrogen technologies are foreseen to also reach new markets in developing countries. The European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC) and the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) will explore the prospects for hydrogen as a key fuel in the future energy system during the ‘Environment and Energy Conclave’ from 25-27th of August in Kalkata, India. The delegation places hydrogen at center stage within a panel discussion ‘Hydrogen: How is it delivering the fuel of the future?’
The public is now able to take part in the work of two European funded projects HyFACTS and FC-HyGuide. HyFACTS has publicized a survey targeted towards regulatory and safety officials able to provide feedback on hydrogen and fuel cell authorization procedures and training of officials in Europe. FC-HyGuide is offering training courses geared to provide interested participants a step-by-step guide on Life Cycle Assessment of hydrogen production and fuel cells. Courses will take place September 2011. (more information on European projects is found below)
Bristol Hydrogen Boats has won SustainableShipping.com’s inaugural Environmental Innovation of the Year Award.
The Award recognises Bristol Hydrogen Boats for their pioneering work to develop the UK’s first hydrogen ferry. The ferry will run in Bristol’s harbour from September this year.
Vision Industries Corp. on July 22nd delivered the world’s first zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell-electric Class 8 truck to Total Transportation Services Inc. (TTSI), a national trucking company that will put the vehicle to test in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Brussels hopes to nudge the automobile industry towards meeting the Union’s goal of limiting CO2 emissions with the help of CO2 emissions credits for car manufacturers if their new cars are fitted with approved ‘eco-innovations’ under legislation adopted by the European Commission on 25 July.
A mobile lighting system powered by a fuel cell was used at the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on July 8th 2011. The hydrogen fuel cell provided power to an advanced, proprietary Light Emitting Plasma (LEP) lighting system in the press area, plus up to 2.5 kW additional auxiliary power.
In order to support the preparation of proposals for the new Calls for Proposals and preparation for proposals on Energy and other topics under the FP7, the European Commission’s Directorates-General are organising various Information Days in July 2011 in the Charlemagne Building, rue de la Loi n° 170, in Brussels: July 7, 11-12, and 18-19.
In the EU Commission’s Multi Annual Framework for 2014 -2020, that was presented on June 29, 2011, with a total budget of €1,025 billion in commitments (1.05% of the EU GNI) and €972.2 billion (1% of EU GNI) in payments, a new fund, the Connecting Europe Facility, has been presented which aims to boost the pan European value of infrastructure projects. With € 40 billion at its disposal, and another €10 billion from the Cohesion Fund, it includes a preliminary list of transport, energy and ICT projects that bring more interconnectivity across Europe. These growth enhancing connections will provide better access to the internal market and terminate the isolation of certain economic “islands”. The Connecting Europe Facility offers opportunities for using innovative financing tools to speed up and secure greater investment than could be achieved only through public funding. The Commission will promote the use of EU project bonds to bring forward the realisation of these important projects. Sustainable economic growth starts in our towns and regions. The substantial amounts for economic, social and territorial cohesion (€376 billion for the whole period) will be more closely linked to Europe 2020 objectives. A new category of ‘transition regions’ will be introduced. New conditionality provisions will ensure [...]
The 3rd International Summer School on PEM Fuel Cells Applications and Integration will take place in Izmir, Turkey on 11-15 July. The Summer School is organised by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Energy (IE), in cooperation with the UNIDO International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET). Topics addressed will include the fundamentals of material science and electro-chemistry applied to PEM fuel cells with particular attention to applications and system integration. The lectures are targeted for researchers, PhD students and research fellows working in fuel cell research and applications. For access to more information and the Summer School Programme you can refer to the Unido-Ichet website.