The IEA World Energy Outlook of 2018 was presented on November 13, 2018 with some remarkable comments of, Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director: “……. as of today, there needs to be a systematic preference for investment in sustainable energy technologies. But we also need to be much smarter about the way that we use our existing energy system. We can create some room for maneuver by expanding the use of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage, hydrogen, improving energy efficiency, and in some cases, retiring capital stock early. To be successful, this will need an unprecedented global political and economic effort. Our analysis shows that over 70% of global energy investments will be government-driven and as such the message is clear – the world’s energy destiny lies with government decisions,” he said . “We have reviewed all current and under-construction energy infrastructure around the world – such as power plants, refineries, cars and trucks, industrial boilers, and home heaters – and find they will account for some 95% of all emissions permitted under international climate targets in coming decades,” said Dr Birol.

The FCH JU Stakeholder Forum on November 16, 2018 in this realm saw ambitious figures in electrolyser manufacturing : NEL Hydrogen announced alkaline costs reaching 50o$/kW to date,  approaching 350$ in futurre scale up. NEL Hydrogen is looking at the 1500 km of dieselpowered rail in Norway and the 40% of diesel railway in Europe: Hydrogen solutions costs half (2mln€/km) of what electrification would cost.

Jan Ingwersen general manager of ENTSO-G: one of the ways of getting hydrogen to consumers  is already there! 1100 Twh of storage is available and 1000GW of gas cross border transmission capacity.

Thierry Trouvé CEO GRTgaz referred to two of their projects near Marseille project Jupiter 1000. The Jupiter 1000 project is the first industrial demonstrator of Power to Gas in France with a power rating of 1 MWe for electrolysis and a methanation process with carbon capture. Green hydrogen will be produced using two electrolysers involving different technologies, from 100% renewable energy. The installation will be based on an innovative methanation technology and CO2 will be captured on a nearby industrial site. In the light of the performance levels shown by the demonstrator,  Over the longer term, GRTgaz envisions to launch the Power to Gas activity in France. More than 15 TWh of gas could be produced each year using the Power to Gas system by 2050. and  FenHYx project testing H2/CNG gas mixing equipment.  Cross border trading of hydrogen is urgently needed!

Nikolas Iwan, managing director of H2Mobility Deutschland announced that 53 HRS are in operation in Germany, by end o f 2019 100 will be in place but after those market will decide! In 2018 demand will triple compared to 2017 end of Q4

The EHA attended a high level conference on Clean Mobility and transport corridors in Vienna on November 15-16, 2018. . The share of cars in Vienna’s total transportation modes went down from 40% in 1993 to 28% in 2014: the aim is to reach 20% in 2025 and 15% in 2030. Pat Cox, the coordinator of the largest EU Core network corridor, the Scandinavian Mediterranean Corridor, referred to success in collaboration between different country agenxcies for conventional infrstrucutre projects: this cooperation should be leveragedd to accelerate the introduction of low emission alternatives for road and maritime transport along the corridors.

The European Parliament on November 14, 2018 voted on the European Commission’s regulation on “CO2 emission standards for new heavy-duty vehicles”, which would set for the first time CO2 emissions reduction targets for trucks and heavy goods vehicles in the EU. Despite intense lobbying from the industry, MEPs endorsed the Environment Committee’s position calling for higher ambition than the initial Commission’s proposal; trucks and heavy goods vehicles will have to reduce their CO2 emissions, by 20% by 2025, and by 35% by 2030, compared with 2019 levels. The proposal also puts in place a benchmark for zero- and low-emission vehicles of 5% in 2025 and 20% in 2030, to incentive manufacturers to make the shift to new technologies.