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EHA Newsletter 02/10

marieke — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:58:13 +0000

The announcement of the EU Spanish presidency of an EU Electric Car Plan dominated the news in the first few days of the newly appointed EU Commission. The EHA teamed up with the Industry Grouping and Fuel Cell Europe and sent a joint letter to the Member State representatives, in time for the Electric Car Plan announcement on February 9 in Seville, to highlight the role of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen as important components of electric transport and the decarbonisation of transport in the EU by 2050. The reaction of Members States to the Spanish proposal was encouraging in that most countries indicated that more green car technologies than just batteries needed to be included, pointing to also hydrogen, hybrides and biofuels. Industry Commissioner Tajani ten days later at an informal meeting of automotive specialists of the Member States on February 19 announced the development of an EU Strategy for Clean and Energy Efficient Cars before the Competitiveness Council of May 25-26. The EHA in its contribution to the EU 2020 strategy, that the Commission recently published, emphasised the need to consider the efficient use of primary energy in developing the right innovative industrial strategies including for transport to facilitate a rapid uptake of sustainable growth and employment. The EHA is currently preparing its contribution to the consultation on the Clean and Energy Efficient Car Strategy.

EHA Newsletter 01/10

marieke — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:31:48 +0000

The first month of the second decade of EHA’s operations in promoting hydrogen as an energy carrier in Europe, was dedicated to the hearings of relevant new Commisoners designate and trying the find out what their responsibilites could mean for hydrogen and fuel cell development. In addition the EHA office chased Spanish colleagues to find out more about the scopet of the proposed EU Electric Car Plan. Together with the JTI Industry Grouping NEW IG, HyRaMP and Fuel Cell Europe we have sent a joint letter to the Member State representative offices in Brussels to ask attention for the role hydrogen and fuel cell cars as part of and electric transport system. We now have information that a majority of the Member States indicated that would like to see a focus on more technolgies that just batteries in the Action Plan mentioning also fuel cells. The new Industry Commissioner Tajani also indicated his interest to focus more on green automotive technologies mentioning specifcally the need of active and coordinated involvement of Member States and Regions. As the Bulgarian Hydrogen Association requested membership last week (see under National News), the EHA, now with 16 national member associations and hosting the office of HyRaMP’s, 30 regions is well placed to facilitate more visibility of hydrogen and fuel cells in EU and national policies.

EHA Newsletter 12/09

marieke — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:56:16 +0000

The last weeks of 2009 have been dominated by the developments in the UN Climate Conference COP 15 in Copenhagen during which fuel cell cars whisked delegates criss cross Copenhagen. Although the final outcome did not live up to the EU aspirations of 30 % emission reduction by 2015, EU’s commitment of €7,4 bln in the next three years (2,4 bln already this year!) to support developing counties to reduce emissions could become important also for our sector, especially in relation to development of new markets for low carbon technologies. In addition recent plans for an EU Electric Car Plan that will be unveiled by the Spanish presidency next month needs monitoring with regards to the support of fuel cells cars as part of EU’s future electric transport ambitions. Therefore the EHA is closely watching the nominations and final responsibilities of the new EU Commissioners who unfortunately will now only be officially nominated by the end of February not in time for this newsletter. The Commissioner designate for Energy for example stated in his hearing in the EU Parliament that he will be responsible for all EU Energy Research, including the SET Plan.. As the Joint Undertaking for fuel cells and hydrogen (FCH JU) is the first European Industrial Initiative under the SET Plan, it has to be clarified which Directorate(s) will take care of the FCH JU activities and budget.
Entering our next decade of operations the EHA is determined, together with its national association members and industry members, to encourage the new EU Commission and EU Parliament to ensure rapid commercialistation of hydrogen and fuel cell applications by including political and financial support in new EU regualtions and programmes to make Europe the market leader in electric transport development. The EHA together with HyRaMP, the Westmidlands in Europe and with the support of ERTRAC and the FCH JU is organising an electric transport infrastructure event during the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) on March 23, 2010 form 14:00 – 17:00 in Brussels to discuss a sustainable infrastructure built-up for both battery and fuel cell cars. For more information please visit the EUSEW site.

EHA Newsletter 11/09

marieke — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:22:22 +0000

The first Hydrogen Vehicle Bridge Crossing Event in Europe on November 30 from Malmoe to Copenhagen was the result of a very constructive collaboration between the EHA, HyRaMP, the NEW IG JTI Industry Grouping and the JTI Programme office, coordinated by Danish hydrogen supplier H2 Logic. By pulling together the networks of these different organisations, a broad group of stakeholders in Europe were involved to get the cars to Malmoe and Copenhagen and to inform national and international media and key stakeholders.

EHA’s 15 national member associations are able to activate collectively over 250 of the main fuel cell and hydrogen companies in Europe and over a 100 reseach institutes and universities. In addition EHA’s own contact database includes key Members of the EU Parliament, European Commission officers, coordinators of the main EU projects and the main European media. Together with the now 30 members of HyRaMP , a community of dedicated key stakeholders is steadily building and committed local governments are ready to welcome the first commercial applications.

As the EHA is entering its second decade of promoting hydrogen as a clean energy carrier, it will step up its efforts to ensure that a sustainable and efficient European hydrogen infrastructure will be built in key locations of Europe. It will facilitate broad visibility of these developments in Brussels and beyond, identifying technology transfer opportunities with regards to future Climate agreements. With the updated EHA website we will also be able to build hydrogen communities online , linking with relevant national and local developments, other EU organisations and digital media and networks. We therefore invite new national associations and industries to join our EHA hydrogen community and support our efforts to ensure Europe maintains its role as market leader in this field.

EHA Newsletter 10/09

marieke — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:26:58 +0000

The FCH JU Stakeholders Assembly held in Brussels on October 26-27, illustrated the impressive progress over the last 12 months in the development of commercial hydrogen applications. Honda’s key note speech demonstrated the commitment of car makers to the production of commercial fuel cell vehicles and Plug Power illustrated the steady progress in the commercialisation of stationary applications. EU’s Research Commisisoner Janez Potocnic and DG TREN ’s responsible unit director Stefan Tostmann both mentioned the importance of the pioneering spirit of the European fuel cell and hydrogen industry in kicking off the first European Industrial Initiative on energy as proposed by the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan). The SET Plan is regarded the technology pillar of the EU ’s energy and climante policy and the Commission estimated the budget needed for fuel cell and hydrogen development at around € 5 bln for 2013-2020.

As also the new EU Transport policy for 2010 – 2020 is under way the EHA is gearing up its national and local forces to inform politicians of the need to leverage funding to allow an even bigger budget to accelerate early markets. The third edition in the series of joint strategy papers of the EHA and the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, DWV will be dealing with this topic, illustrating the current status of primary energry sources and how to make the best use of them when building the electric transport infrastructure. The paper will come out in time for the big EU Transport Confererece on November 20, the Fuel Cell Vehicle Parade in Copenhagen, co- organised by the EHA, on November 30, 2009 and last but not least the inauguration of a new EU Commission and EU president…..

EHA Newsletter 09/09

moatti — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:39:17 +0000

Over the last weeks several important communciations of the Commission are pointing to an increasing awareness of the role of fuel cells and hydrogen, next to batteries and elctricitity in moving towards the decarbonization of transport. President Barroso embarking on his second turn as head of the Commission, made a special refernece to decarbomization in his 5 year plan. The EHA office, hosting the second General Assembly of HyRaMP the first week of October in Brussels, facilitated several meetings and presentation of key EU officials to explain the significance of the new policies for hydrogen and fuel cell development in Europe. The EHA submitted this month also a contribution to the consultation on the Future of Urban Mobility for which an Action Plan has been developed. The EHA is stressing the importance of coordinating the development of the infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling and battery recharging with regards to the efficient use of primary sources. This links directly to efforts and financial investment needed to achieve the goals of the EU Strategic Eenrgy Technology Plan that saw a communciation on the estimated € 50 billion of private and public financing needed for 2010-2020 to develop key energy technologies that contribute to emission reductions. The communciation mentions that hydrogen and fuel cells development will need a total of € 5 billion during 2013-2020 to support “more and larer scale demonstrations and pre-commercial deployment activites for portable,stationary, transport applications”. September also marked the finalisation of project proposals for the second JTI call that deadlines on October 15, 2009. The EHA has been asked to support the dissemination of several projects and is keen to expand this role in upcoming calls leveraging the contact network of its 15 national associations and links to the 30 regions of the HyRaMP Partenrship.

EHA Newsletter 08/09

marieke — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:47:38 +0000

August in Brussels saw tropical temperatures as if it was heating up for a new EU Parliament legislative term and the appointment of new Commissioners. Important dossiers for our sector will be the new Clean Transport Communication of last June, new EU Energy Efficiency Action Plan that will come out this November, new CO2 labelling for cars and CO2 emissions for vans and minibuses, plus the role out of the Economic Recovery Package with large funding for efficiency and sustainabel urban development.. The EHA office is also collaborating with the JTI Programme office to attract speakers for the Annual JTI Stakeholders Assembly on October 26-27, 2009. On the second day a session has been added on “Building an energy system on complementarities: Identifying synergies between European Technology Platforms”. This is a topic that the EHA has been promoting in view of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan: a hearing that we organized in collaboration with the commisison in 2007 and our last brochure promoted the synergies between rnenewabel energy and hydrogen. Recently smart grid developments and its strong links with electric transport, supported by the EU Green Car Initiative are pointing to the need to explain the role of hydrogen as the other clean energy carrier next to electricity. The EHA is collaborating with the German Hydrogen anf Fuel Cell Association to prepare a strategy paper on this topic.

EHA Newsletter 07/09

marieke — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:58:22 +0000

The recent approval of the US Senate to increase the budget for hydrogen and fuel cells to € 190 mln for 2010, up from earlier earlier announcements of the Obama administration that government spending on hydrogen for transport would be reduced, demonstrates the power that active and constructive lobbying can have on decision makers. We salute our collaegues in the US with this success that should inspire us all to be more ambitious in contacting key decison makers in Brussels and at national and local level. The EHA this summer has embarked on a intensive verification effort of new EU Parliament members, presidents of crucial committees and other key members with close links to the sectors that are important for hydrogen and fuel cells development. We have prepared a database that inlcudes contact info of all key MEP’sand listed them also per country for easy reference for our industry and national associtaion members. In this way the EHA is mobilizing support that includes references to concrete examples of how the use of hydrogen and fuel cells are indispensable components of clean energy and transport systems. The recent openings of Shell’s cluster of hydrogen refeulling stations in the New York area being one of those (see under Hydrogen Hits the Roads ).

EHA Newsletter 06/09

marieke — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:07:23 +0000

As has been reported in previous EHA newsletters several new funding initiatives as a result of the financial crisis have been recently put in place that could offer additional funding to hydrogen and fuel cell activities. In order to interest authorities presiding over these funds to include H2 and FC projects in their funding schemes visibility of feasability of our technologies is crucial. Several high impact projects like the HyFleet CUTE project have offered this proof of concept to a broader public including local authorities. It is now up to the the first demonstration projects of the JTI to further broaden the scope of these demonstration projects and lift the bar to include sites that are committed to integrate hydrogen applications in energy and transport systems and build the market. The EHA therfeore is keen to facilitate increased leveraging of funding at EU, national and local level and invited the European Investment Bank to its last General Assembly on June 17 to discuss new funding mechanisms for local authorities for energy effciency and sustainable transport. In addition the EHA published a press release on the occasion of the EU Commission Transport Communciation stressing the need to include hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles next to battery cars to create the Commission’s objective of a “an integrated, technology-led and user friendly system”.

EHA Newsletter 05/09

marieke — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:29:00 +0000

In view of the recently announced financing programmes of the European Energy Programme for Recovery (see under EU Policy), that covers support for new Interconnections, Wind ans CCS, the EU Green Car Initiative, Clean Bus Financing Facility and Renewable Energy Financing Facility, all including billions of Euros of cofinancing or facilitated loans, the EHA at its Annual General Meeting on June 17, 2009 in Brussels will be focussing on potential links of these porgrammes with hydrogen developments in the presence of the representatives of the European Investment Bank and the JTI Governing Board . In order to continue sustainable progress in the commercialisation of market ready hydrogen and fuel cell products, leveraging of EU, national and local support will be crucial. Recent support for electric vehicles and battery development will only accelerate this process, but only if long term finacial support for hydrogen and fuel cells is guaranteed. The EHA’s Annual General Assembly and EHA’s National Association Meeting on June 17 will also discuss the role of the EHA and national associations to coordinate structured developments and to ensure complementary funding at national and local level. Please register for both events by writing an email to info@h2euro.org