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FCH-JU Call for Proposals 2012 Public Information Session and Brokerage

9 Feb - 9 Feb, 2012

NEW-IG and N.ERGHY invite all parties interested in responding to the FCH JU Call for proposals 2012 to participate in the Public Information Session and Brokerage event 2012.
The event will take place on 9th of February 2012 in the premises of the FCH JU Programme Office, avenue de la Toison d’Or 56-60, Brussels. 
The FCH JU will introduce the day in a Public Information Session on the 2012 Call for proposals (to be published mid-January). The session will cover the topics of this year’s call, processes, rules for submission of proposals as well as other useful information for participants.
The day will then continue with a Brokerage event co-organised by the Industry Grouping (NEW-IG) and the Research Grouping (N.ERGHY) of the FCH Joint Undertaking. Sessions will be organised by application areas and topics in order to facilitate concrete discussions and targeted networking. Each specific topic of the Call for proposals 2012 will be discussed twice to allow participants to take part in all discussions of their interest.

First APFCT Scooter Completes 15,000 km on the Road

January 5, 2012

Asia Pacific Fuel Cell Technologies (APFCT) has announced that one of the fuel cell scooters in its demonstration fleet has become the first to complete 15,000 km on the road. The ten scooter fleet is being tested in the Demonstration and Verification Program of Hydrogen Energy Industry, sponsored by the Bureau of Energy, Taiwan. Under this, six scooters are allocated to an on-road test drive of 5,000 km. One scooter was durability tested for 5,000 km by the Taiwan Automotive Research and Testing Center (ARTC), which was completed in October of this year. The remaining three scooters must each complete 15,000 km on the road; the second scooter is expected to reach the target this week. The project will be complete in January 2012. APFCT’s Zero Emission fuel cell Scooter (ZES) is being developed for commercial sale, primarily in Asia. A deal to develop a commercial canister refuelling system using Acta’s electrolyser stack technology was announced earlier this month (see our news story).

Further Apple Patents Show How Fuel Cells Could Integrate into Future MacBooks

January 5, 2012

A duo of patents uncovered in October signalled that Apple was actively interested in the use of fuel cells for powering some of its consumer devices. Apple is notorious in its obsession with thinness and lightness and October’s patents showed how the company could develop lightweight monopolar fuel cells. Now two further patent applications show how the company could integrate a fuel cell and fuel cartridge system into a MacBook. Source: FuelCellToday

BC Transit Bus Fleet exceeds 1 Million Miles of Service

January 5, 2012

Ballard Power Systems announced on December 20th 2011 that the 20-bus fleet operated by BC Transit in the Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia and powered by Ballard FCvelocityTM-HD6 fuel cell modules recently surpassed 1-million miles (1.6-million kilometers) of revenue service. The BC Transit fleet has been the largest hydrogen fuel cell-powered bus fleet in operation anywhere since it went into service approximately 2-years ago and is the first hydrogen fuel cell bus fleet to achieve the 1-million mile revenue service mark. The buses went into service in January, 2010 prior to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and have been an effective showcase for clean transportation alternatives. By end-November 2011 a number of important results had been achieved: • The 20-bus fleet had operated a total of 80,000 hours; • More than 9,600 safe refuellings had been completed, by which 220,000 kilograms of hydrogen was dispensed to the fleet’s buses; and • 2,200 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were avoided, in comparison to diesel buses, which is equivalent to removing approximately 400 passenger vehicles from the roads. Source: Ballard PR, FuelCellToday

Turkey Unveils Fuel Cell Boat

January 5, 2012

Turkey’s Istanbul Technical University (ITU) unveiled a hydrogen fuel cell boat last month. The Marti (which means seagull) was developed over four years and can operate for 10 hours on 5 kg of hydrogen with a maximum speed of 13 km/h and is now ready for use.  he boat will be put into use on the Golden Horn estuary in Istanbul.

The Launch of UKH2Mobility

December 18, 2011

Initially the UKH2Mobility project will investigate the potential for  hydrogen as a fuel for ultra-low carbon vehicles in the UK and plans to publish its evaluation by the end of 2012 in a publicly available report. To develop a strategy and business case to facilitate the necessary hydrogen infrastructure for the anticipated 2014/2015 FCEVs.

AFC Energy-led Consortium Awarded €1.4 M EU Funding

December 5, 2011

UK-based alkaline fuel cell developer AFC Energy is to lead a consortium of organisations running a new EU project, LASER-CELL, backed by €2.9 million of funding.  The AFC Energy-led consortium is to receive €1.4 million of this from the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). LASER-CELL will run alongside AFC Energy’s current development programme and will develop innovative technologies to enhance high-volume production of alkaline fuel cells, backed up by life-cycle and market analysis. AFC Energy will receive €405,600 of the total funding. Source: FuelCellToday

EU project development course in Hungary

7 Feb - 10 Feb, 2012

The FP7 Winter Academy offers a three-day February 7th-10th winter course covering all stages of an EU project development. Participants will learn the difference between FP7 and other EU programmes and get an in-depth look at the entire life-cycle of an EU project, including financial reporting and post project audits.  They will learn how to identify a call and submit a proposal in FP7. The course combines 1,5 days of proposal development and evaluation, and 2 days of project management.

London’s Fuel Cell Taxi Fleet Confirmed Under New HyTEC Project

December 3, 2011

The Intelligent Energy/Lotus London hydrogen fuel cell black cabs are to be deployed under a new European consortium HyTEC – Hydrogen Transport for European Cities, which consists of sixteen companies from five European countries and is part-funded by the FCH JU. The deployment will consist of: one new Air Products refuelling station, fifteen black cabs and five Suzuki Bergmann scooters.
The new hydrogen station will be used in conjunction with the two existing stations used to service the fuel cell buses on the RV1 route, creating the foundation of a London hydrogen infrastructure. The fuel cell taxi, first announced in June 2010 has a top speed of over 80 mph and a range of more than 250 miles has received widespread press over the last year.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, comments ‘I want London to become a zero-emission city in order to deliver cleaner air and improve quality of life.

Report on Financial and technology outlook on FCH in Europe 2014 – 2020

December 1, 2011

The “Fuel Cell and Hydrogen technologies in Europe; Financial and technology outlook on the European sector ambition 2014 – 2020” was made public this November 2011 during the FCH JU stakeholder assembly which took place in Brussels.

The Report summarizes the sector’s financial ambition to reach Europe’s objectives in 2020. The estimated investments are split into traditional R&D and Demonstration efforts, totaling around €6.4 bn and a newer effort to take place in relation to market introduction investments, estimated at around €11.5 bn. The role and responsibility of Industry will increase with increased proximity to the market. The respective contemplated roles of Member States and the European Union and other supporting financial institutions are explored in detail in the document.