TRA 2012 will focus on all aspects of all surface transport modes with the exception of overseas shipping. It is supported by the main transport industry stakeholders in Europe: the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR), the European Commission (EC), the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC), the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC), and the European Technology Platform Waterborne (WATERBORNE). TRA 2012 seeks to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the transport sector and, for this reason, addresses all stakeholders in both the public and private sectors and all professionals, regardless of their roles (researchers, practitioners, designers, constructors, operators, administrators etc.). The main theme of TRA 2012 is Sustainable mobility through innovation.

For more information see: TRA 2012

The debate will be moderated by Ian Williamson, president of the European Hydrogen Association (EHA).

The event will take place in the Members Salon from 12.30-2.30pm

President Obama has laid out a Blueprint for an energy strategy which relies on “American-made energy and the skills of American workers”.

COMMITTING TO CLEAN ENERGY

Implementing a clean energy standard: The centerpiece of President Obama’s plan to develop and use more clean energy calls for establishing a “clean energy standard,” which would require utility companies to produce a larger percentage of their electricity from clean energy sources over time –including renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, and nuclear, among others. With this requirement in place, clean sources would account for 80 percent of our electricity by 2035. Besides reducing carbon emissions, implementing a standard would create a larger domestic market for developing new, innovative energy technologies—and the many jobs that would come along with it.

Targeted tax incentives: To further support a growing clean energy industry, President Obama’s Blueprint calls for renewing and extending a number of already successful tax incentives. This includes tax incentives for clean energy manufacturing, which could create up to 100,000 jobs, and the Production Tax Credit to support investment in the deployment of clean energy technologies.

Opening public lands: Developing the new technologies we need is only one part of the clean energy equation. The other part requires putting the new technologies to use. To answer this call, the Department of the Interior has committed to issuing permits on public lands that will enable the generation of 10 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity – enough to power 3 million homes.

Powering the U.S. military with renewable energy: Just because Congress hasn’t moved forward with establishing a clean energy economy doesn’t prevent all progress toward using more renewable energy. To this end, President Obama announced that the Department of the Navy will make a 1 gigawatt renewable energy purchase—the largest purchase of its kind in history, and enough energy to power 250,000 homes.

Additionally, the Air Force is installing solar panels on its bases and developing cleaner, more efficient ways to fuel the military’s aircraft. In 2010, the Air Force flew an A-10 Thunderbolt entirely on alternative fuels, a first for the military.

The study will be presented at lunch event on March 13 in European Parliament.

The event will take place on 9^th 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.

Draft programme:

Your participation in the event will give you the opportunity to: 

Discuss your projects ideas

Find potential project partners

Develop your proposal

Build or join a consortium

Receive information and advice

Enlarge your network

In addition, members of NEW-IG and N.ERGHY are invited to:

Bring posters presenting their project ideas or organization/company

Consult profiles and other participants and summaries of project ideas on IG/RG Intranet prior to the event

Registration:

The event is open to all interested parties free of charge.

Attached you may find the registration form for participation to the event. Form may be sent to events@fchindustry-jti.eu by 3 February 2012 at the latest. 

EHA: Firstly, as we have stepped into a new year and a new Presidency of the EU, we look to what has been already achieved in Denmark, with regards to hydrogen and fuel cell integration within the Danish Energy System, – what are the achievements in the last year?

Mr. Mortensgaard: In Denmark much more focus has been set on the source of energy to produce the fuels to be applied by fuel cells. The aims are, hydrogen to be produced from renewable power and green fuels to be produced from hydrogen and biomass. In November 2011 the government introduced a goal that by 2035 – all electricity and heat should be produced by renewable energy. This objective is in the process of been passed by national government. Obviously, this ambitious goal becomes a driver for development of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. To reach 100% renewable energy in the electric grid, you need to introduce the Smart Grid and you need to be able to store energy.  This is the opinion of the system operator “Energinet.dk,” which is the national organization responsible for balancing the grid.

Hydrogen is playing a more increasing role in Energy storage. Wind energy companies increasingly also are becoming stakeholders in the industry of fuel cells and hydrogen.

The whole value chain is being investigated starting from the energy source to the end user. In the case of transport, Denmark is developing technology to produce hydrogen at the tanking station from wind energy. The goal is to produce hydrogen at low costs and at high conversion efficiency.

EHA: What would you like to see happen within the Danish Presidency?

Mr. Mortensgaard: The Danish plan is being negotiated at the moment. The government is setting ambitious goals within renewable energy, and this is also the will for Europe. Strong ambitious goals will be a driver for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

We need ambitious political goals, and financial support to support technological development. The wind sector still receives governmental financial support, through tariffs for example. We now are in the phase of demonstrating hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. But in order to commercialize these, industry needs financial support for early market introduction; especially within building of infrastructure.

EHA: EHA is partner in a project dealing with the education and training of hydrogen technicians, as this is also an objective of the Danish presidency to improve and expand “Green Jobs”, when looking into the Danish case. Do you see a gap in the industry needs of today/tomorrow within the hydrogen sector?

Mr. Mortensgaard: This is also an issue in Denmark. We have identified that we need highly skilled jobs, to survive in the economic situation of today. We urge young people to specialize within natural sciences at the universities; it is definitely something being discussed in Denmark. We have seen that highly skilled people need to get into the hydrogen and fuel cell business. Education of sciences is important, but it does not necessary have to be within hydrogen and fuel cells. If you are highly skilled you probably also are a quick learner.

The Danish export of hydrogen stations in Europe and the world is estimated by 2025 to be about 1.5 Billion Euros. 5,000-6,000 people are expected to be working in the sector in Denmark alone, for the building of hydrogen fuelling stations. To work with green energy is very attractive among young people. If we don’t have sufficient people to graduate in Denmark, we need young people from Europe or the rest of the world to settle in Denmark in these professions.

 EHA: In the New Year, what is your wish for 2012?

Mr. Mortensgaard: I would like to see that our government is working towards ambitious clean energy goals for Denmark; but more importantly I would like to see this to spread throughout Europe.

The expectation is that the Strategic European Hydrogen Transport Projects will stimulate further innovative hydrogen technology projects and high-level investment in the area, realising Aberdeen’s aspiration of becoming a world-leading hydrogen city.

The project will see the first hydrogen bus deployment in Scotland, with up to a dozen buses operating in the North-east. The fleet, which will operate on routes into central Aberdeen, will be the largest in any European city.

The buses will be refuelled at Scotland’s first large hydrogen refuelling station which will supply locally generated gas and be able to refuel hydrogen-powered cars as they become available.

The city council has secured £9.2million of EU funding towards the projects, has committed to contribute £2million over four years and will secure a further £9.3million of funding from project partners.

At a meeting of the Full Council, councillors approved the authority’s participation in the High V.Lo City, HyTransit, HyTrEc and LOWCAP cluster projects, subject to securing 90% of additional funding from external partners.

The projects will bring 12 hydrogen buses and a hydrogen filling station to the North-east, initially securing approximately £20.5million of investment to Aberdeen, with the potential for considerable investment and development opportunities in the field.

The strategic projects provide the opportunity to create new industry and greater choice in energy production and usage, as well as enabling the development of a hydrogen strategy for the Energetica Development Corridor.

The use of hydrogen as a transport fuel offers great promise as a key component of a low carbon energy system. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles emit no harmful emissions, are considerably more efficient than the fossil-fuelled equivalents and are virtually noise free.

Source: FuelCellToday

The fuel cell truck was tested by gardeners in the grounds of Holstebro Cemeteries (Denmark), where it has three key advantages: its near-silent operation, low emissions and the fact that it does not require constant recharging. Gardeners can operate the EcoMotion for up to a week before the ten litre fuel tank needs refilling. The truck also produces power for an inverter and two built-in 230 VAC power outlets so that the gardeners don’t need long cables for equipment such as electric hedge trimmers.

The gardeners at Holstebro Cemeteries were so impressed by the demonstration that they ordered a customised EcoMotion Truck for the cemetery, which was delivered in September.

More information: FuelCellToday

January 10th 2012 the call was officially opened for proposals until 13 APRIL 2012. The Public Information day is scheduled for 31 January in Brussels. For more information on the event and the TEN-T Call see: TEN-T Webpage

The call can serve as a good basis for proposal for deployment of hydrogen infrastructure projects. The text for the call for proposals may be found via: TEN-T call 2011