European Hydrogen Association » Newsletters

EHA Newsletter 06/10

marieke — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:10:14 +0000

The EHA entered an new era in June appointing Ian Williamson of Air Products as its first president representing industry. Ian is succeeding Lars Sjunnesson who has represented the Swedish national hydrogen association in the EHA for over 7 years. Under Lars’s guidance the association membership has increased from 5 national associations in 2000 to 19 national member associations and 7 of the main hydrogen infrastructure companies, Shell Hydrogen, Statoil, ENI, Air Products, Linde, Air liquide and Hydrogenics Europe today. Ian Williamson indicated that the EHA with this unique membership structure is well placed to foster local deployment and infrastructure build- up and that he is committed to support national association members to facilitate a broad market uptake of the first commercial hydrogen applications throughout Europe.
With the development of electric transport throughout Europe, the role of hydrogen in electric fuel cell vehicles will become more imminent. The EHA therefore seeks to actively contribute to the upcoming EU White Paper on Sustainable Transport for Europe and has submitted its contribution to the Comission’s consultation on an EU Energy 2011 -2020 strategy. In collaboration with HyRaMP a Workshop is scheduled on large scale infrastructure development for key national and regional stakeholders on October 20, 2010 in Brussels. For more inforamtion and registration please contat the EHA secretariat at info@h2euro.org

EHA Newsletter 05/10

marieke — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:31:13 +0000

May 2010 offered many proofs of product and policy that will put the use of hydrogen more visibly on Europe’s map. The Drive and Ride event on the eve of the World Hydrogen Energy Conference on May 16, organised by Energie im Wandel, the German National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell programme NOW’s promotional campaign, saw German families hop into various fuel cells SUV’s and hit the Autobahn. On the policy level the EU Competitiveness Council in its conclusion on May 25 on the Clean and Eenrgy Efficient Vehicles Strategy (COM2010/189) recognized that “hydrogen vehicles remain a valid ultra-low-carbon mobility option in the mediumterm perspective, as affordability of the car and of the fuel is achieved; also noted that hydrogen vehicles and electric vehicles are mutually complementary”. The Spanish presidency inaugurated four more European Industrial Initiatives (EII’s) under the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan on Wind, Solar, Smart grids and CCS that will need direct links with the first of these initiatives, the Joint Undertaking on fuel cells and hydrogen that will publish its third call for proposals this June.
All of this inspired the EHA to send a request to EU vice president Antoio Tajani to for a seat in the Cars 21 High Level Group that will steer the Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles strategy into action.
This year’s 10th EHA Annual General Assembly and EHA National Association Action Meeting on June 22, 2010 in the Palais des Academies, Rue Ducale 1 in Brussels, promises therefore to be the kick-start of a new era of engagement of our national association members in working with industry to convince national and local authorities to step up their support for hydrogen infrastructure development. Registration for the EHA National Association Action Meeting starting at 1400 on June 22 is open at info@h2euro.org.

EHA Newsletter 04/10

marieke — Sat, 01 May 2010 03:47:18 +0000

Brussels is bubbling with dossiers that require active contributions of our industry: the EU Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles Strategy, as presented by the EU Commission on April 28, and discussed in the EHA/HyRaMP seminar on March 23 in Brussels, included encouraging text. Complementary development of battery and fuel cell car development was mentioned as well as the need for an assessment on whether synergies exist between capacity build up for electric and hydrogen vehicles and their connection to low-carbon electricity sources, as indicated in the EHA postion paper on the strategy.
The EHA was also contacted by DG Environment to give input on the future development of hydrogen refuelling stations with regards to the Review of the Seveso II Directive, that limits hydrogen on-site storage to 5 tons. Last but not least in a meeting with DG Enterprise, the EHA discussed further EU action on standardisation of infrastructure build-up in Europe and the EHA interest to contribute to the proposed EU Platform for electric transport. The EU Competitiveness Council of May 25-26 will decide on the Clean Vehicles Strategy and therefore it will be very important in the next three weeks to take action at national level to inform government officials of the need to include fuel cell vehicles in their support for electric mobility and to ensure the best use of primary energy sources in transport infrastructure build-up. We also ask national governments for support for an EU coordinated electric transprot platform, consisting of all zero emission transport stakeholders. EHA national association members are well placed to engage with national decision makers on these topics. The EHA Annual General Assembly and the EHA National Association Meeting that are taking place on June 22 in Brussels will be important occasions to discuss national progress, share experiences and celebrate our ten years of promotion and dissemination of the use of hydrogen in Europe .

EHA Newsletter 03/10

marieke — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:50:17 +0000

Spring seems to have arrived in Brussels, especially with regards to new actions on cleaning transport in the EU. Several recent proposals of the EU Spanish presidency, the new Commission and EU Parliament call to speed up support for co-called Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles. The EHA took action and submitted a position paper as contribution to the consultation of the EU Enterprise and Industry Directorate on an EU Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles strategy, emphasizing the need for a coordinated, energy efficient electric transport infrastructure build-up for electric battery and fuel cell electric vehicles. In addition we co-organized, together with HyRaMP and the West Midlands in Europe office and with the support of ERTRAC and the FCH JU, a very successful policy event on this topic on March 23, during the EU Sustainable Energy Week. The new EHA/DWV Strategy Paper was presented at this event to the director of Automotive in the Commission, Philippe Jean, who is responsible for the new strategy. The paper outlines the role of hydrogen as an energy carrier in the new global energy system, pointing to the need of the efficient use of primary energy sources in electric transport infrastructure planning. The paper can be downloaded here.

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.