Nine European partners, including associations, leading companies, universities, technological and research centres have launched H2TRUST, a consortium formed to foster a smooth and well managed transition to the full scale commercialisation of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) applications in Europe. In addition, the consortium will stress the importance of safety among all stakeholders. The project will be led by MATGAS, a joint venture between Air Products, the National Research Council of Spain and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, located in Barcelona. The project is funded by the FCH JU and the EHA is cooperating with FAST, the Federation of Scientific and Technical Associations, FAST to contribute to the dissemination of the project.
One of the consortium’s main goals is to assess industry efforts to ensure FCH technology remains safe and that there is adequate regulation, hazard awareness, incident readiness and ability to respond to any public concerns. To ensure its goals are met, the consortium will meet regularly. Risk assessments will focus on each of the main application areas (hydrogen production, storage and distribution, mobility and vehicles, non-vehicles and residential power generation). The consortium expects that the results will help to create a long lasting culture of preventative safety in the industry, as well as a legacy of tools and knowledge that will reinforce best practice and public confidence.
“We hope that H2TRUST will help to accelerate the full scale commercialisation of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen applications in Europe, by providing accurate information to the public about the benefits of these technologies for a sustainable future,” said Dr. Lourdes Vega, Director of Spanish R+D Centre, MATGAS.
The CTC Network promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries.
