Belgium

Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are developing quickly from passenger vehicles to trucks or fork-lifts. Policymakers are supporting an ambitious strategy to deploy fuel cell electrical vehicles with infrastructure as hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) as the European Green deal for Europe. The hydrogen fuel quality according to international standard as ISO 14687 is critical to ensure the FCEV performance and that poor hydrogen quality may not cause FCEV loss of performance. However the sampling system is only available for nozzle sampling at HRS. If a FCEV may show a lack of performance there is currently no methodology to sample hydrogen fuel from a FCEV itself. It would support the investigation to determine if hydrogen fuel may have caused any performance loss. This article presents the first FCEV sampling system and its comparison with the hydrogen fuel sampling from the HRS nozzle (as requested by international standard ISO 14687). The results showed good agreement with the hydrogen fuel sample. The results demonstrate that the prototype developed provides representative samples from the FCEV and can be an alternative to determine hydrogen fuel quality. The prototype will require improvements and a larger sampling campaign.

This report aims at summarizing the different stakeholders’ opinions on H2NG blends and cross them with the THyGA results to recommend some necessary actions to prepare the field for operational large-scale blending (liability delayed ignition adjustment…).

In this episode of Hydrogen Europe's podcast "Hydrogen the first element" our CEO Jorgo Chatzimarkakis discusses with Wind Europe's CEO Giles Dickson. Starting off on how Giles joined Wind Europe the two CEOs discuss the responsibilities their industries have in the new energy strategy set in the REPowerEU as well as the fruitful synergies between hydrogen and wind.

The report “Policy Toolbox for Low Carbon and Renewable Hydrogen” is based on an assessment of the performance of hydrogen policies in different stages of market maturity and segments of the value chain. 48 policies were shortlisted based on their economic efficiency and effectiveness and mapped to barriers across the value chain and over time. These policies were subsequently clustered into policy packages for three country archetypes: a self-sufficient hydrogen producer an importer and an exporter of hydrogen.

The paper can be found on their website.

The deployment of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is critical to achieve zero emissions. A key parameter influencing FCEV performance and durability is hydrogen fuel quality. The real impact of contaminants on FCEV performance is not well understood and requires reliable measurements from real-life events (e.g. hydrogen fuel in poor-performing FCEVs) and controlled studies on the impact of synthetic hydrogen fuel on FCEV performance. This paper presents a novel methodology to flow traceable hydrogen synthetic fuel directly into the FCEV tank. Four different synthetic fuels containing N2 (90–200 µmol/mol) CO (0.14–5 µmol/mol) and H2S (4–11 nmol/mol) were supplied to an FCEV and subsequently sampled and analyzed. The synthetic fuels containing known contaminants powered the FCEV and provided real-life performance testing of the fuel cell system. The results showed for the first time that synthetic hydrogen fuel can be used in FCEVs without the requirement of a large infrastructure. In addition this study carried out a traceable H2 contamination impact study with an FCEV. The impact of CO and H2S at ISO 14687:2019 threshold levels on FCEV performance showed that small exceedances of the threshold levels had a significant impact even for short exposures. The methodology proposed can be deployed to evaluate the composition of any hydrogen fuel.

Purpose: The Training section of the Education and Training module of the FCHO offers a repository of training available in Europe. In addition to the training programmes Educational materials which are publicly accessible online are also available to access on the FCHO. https://www.fchobservatory.eu/observatory/education-and-training Scope: The training courses are displayed by location within a map and users can explore the data by selecting the type of training of interest. Two additional filters on the language and the focus of the training are available to refine the search according to user needs. Users of the online tool can be students professionals and individuals wishing to learn and be trained on FCH. To complement this mapping a repository of online resources is accessible on the FCHO. Users may retrieve reliable materials available for self-learning. Key Findings: Master programmes and professional training courses were the most mapped categories. There is a prevalence of training courses offered by Western European countries in the mapping. The majority of the training courses mapped are targeted at technicians engineers and doctorate. For Bachelor and Master programmes FCH is more often an element integrated in a programme than its main focus. “Hydrogen Production” and “Hydrogen end-uses: transports” were the most selected focus of courses among the 11 categories proposed. “Regulations Codes and Standards” was the least selected focus with only one training out of five tackling these aspects. Professional training is more often focusing on end-uses and safety than Master programmes. Master programmes put a strong emphasis on “Basic electrochemistry” “Hydrogen production”. European projects are the main source for publicly accessible materials to learn on FCH. Most of the materials listed are available in English. “Hydrogen End-Uses” is the focus category the most common in the materials listed.

Purpose: The standards module of the FCHO (https://www.fchobservatory.eu/observatory/Policyand-RCS/Standards) presents a large number of standards relevant for the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells. The standards are categorized per application enhancing ease of access and findability. The development of sector-relevant standards facilitate and enhance economies of scale interoperability comparability safety and many other issues. Scope: This report presents the developments in European and international standards for the year 2021 and the start of 2022. Standards from the following standards developing organizations are included: CEN CENELEC ISO IEC OIML. Key Findings: The development of sector relevant standards on an international level continued to grow in 2022; on a European level many standards are still in the process of being drafted. In 2021 & 2022 11 new standards have been published on the subject of fuel cell technologies and safety and measurement protocols of hydrogen technologies. The recently established committee CEN-CLC JTC 6 (Hydrogen in energy systems) has not published standards yet but is working on drafting standards on for example Guarantees of Origin. In the upcoming years multiple standards will be replaced such as the ISO 12619 1-12 set of standards affecting 40% of all collected standards. Previous Reports: The first report was published in September 2020 followed up by a second report in 2021. This report is the 3 rd Annual report.

If Europe is to meet its 2050 decarbonisation objectives a change of paradigm needs to materialise. The energy sector cannot be understood any more as the sum of independent silos consisting of different energy vectors. Indeed a large number of technologies that are essential to meeting our decarbonisation targets are linking systems and markets currently being planned and operated without fully considering the potential benefits of adopting a holistic approach. If this situation is to persist large-scale sub-optimalities are likely to emerge if the planning and operations of the different components of the energy system will not be able to capture synergies and interdependencies between energy vectors and markets. Interlinkages between systems are appearing between all vectors both at the planning and operation levels. In the case of hydrogen these links are especially important as hydrogen technologies are linking the electricity methane and heat sectors (via electrolysis and hydrogen turbines repurposing of gas assets and hydrogen boilers respectively). Sector integration can allow to capture benefits both in terms of planning and operations:- The production of electrolytic hydrogen poses important challenges in terms of planning the deployment of renewable energy (RES) and electrolyser capacities in a way that ensures that the overall carbon emissions decrease in an effective and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore key questions related to the benefits of co-locating renewable capacities electrolysers and hydrogen demand centres can only be explored if a holistic perspective is adopted. Finally synergies can also appear if planning decisions are taken jointly between the electricity hydrogen and methane sectors as the optimal set of hydrogen infrastructure projects strongly depends on the ability to source electrolysers (link with the electricity sector) and on the possibility to repurpose part of the current infrastructure (link with the methane sector)- Similarly operational considerations also advocate for an integrated approach as electrolysers can provide important flexibility services to the electricity sector if provided with appropriate price signals. These considerations provide the motivation for this study which aims at performing a detailed examination of planning decisions and operational management of a 2050 power system with a focus on comparing different decarbonisation options for the provision of heat of different temperature levels.

The present study (in the following referred to as study S4) takes a deeper look at the 2050 EU energy system. It builds upon a decarbonisation scenario developed in an earlier study of the METIS 2 project (study S61) which focusses on the EU electricity sector and its interlinkage with the hydrogen and the heat sectors. While study S6 aimed for a cost-optimal dimensioning of the EU power system the present study goes a step further and aims to derive more general conclusions. It sheds light on no-regret options towards the decarbonisation of the 2050 EU energy system potential technology lock-in risks and major drivers of uncertainty like system sensitivity to climate change and commodity prices. The analysis is complemented by an evaluation of the impact of an enhanced representation of hydrogen infrastructures and the associated constraints as these may impact the entire interlinked EU energy system.

Authored by the Hydrogen Council in collaboration with McKinsey and Company Global Hydrogen Flows addresses the midstream challenge of aligning and optimizing global supply and demand. It finds that trade can reduce overall system costs.

In doing so it provides a perspective on how the global trade of hydrogen and derivatives including hydrogen carriers ammonia methanol synthetic kerosene and green steel (which uses hydrogen in its production) can develop as well as the investments needed to unlock the full potential of global hydrogen and derivatives trade.

Our hope is that this report offers stakeholders – suppliers buyers original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) investors and governments – a thorough and quantitative perspective that will help them make the decisions required to accelerate the uptake of hydrogen.

Key messages from the report:

Hydrogen and its derivatives will become heavily traded: 400 out of the 660 million tons (MT) of hydrogen needed for carbon neutrality by 2050 will be transported over long distances with 190 MT crossing international borders.

In a cost-optimal world around 50% of trade uses pipelines while synthetic fuels ammonia and sponge iron transported on ships account for approximately 45%. Europe and countries in the Far East will rely on imports while North America and China are mostly self-reliant.

Trade has huge benefits: It can lower the cost of hydrogen supply by 25% or as much as US$6 trillion of investments from now until 2050. This will accelerate the hydrogen transition which can abate 80 gigatons of CO2 until 2050.

The paper can be found on their website.

Hydrogen is a key cornerstone of the green transformation of the global economy and a major lever to diversify energy supplies and accelerate the clean energy transition. Hydrogen will be essential to replace natural gas coal and oil in hard-to-decarbonise sectors in industry mobility and energy. Hydrogen Valleys will become an important cornerstone in producing importing transporting and using clean hydrogen in Europe.

Proposals for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 include scaling-up electrolytic hydrogen production however this poses technical economic and environmental challenges. One such challenge is for policymakers to ensure a sustainable future for the environment including freshwater and land resources while facilitating low-carbon hydrogen production using renewable wind and solar energy. We establish a country-by-country reference scenario for hydrogen demand in 2050 and compare it with land and water availability. Our analysis highlights countries that will be constrained by domestic natural resources to achieve electrolytic hydrogen self-sufficiency in a net-zero target. Depending on land allocation for the installation of solar panels or wind turbines less than 50% of hydrogen demand in 2050 could be met through a local production without land or water scarcity. Our findings identify potential importers and exporters of hydrogen or conversely exporters or importers of industries that would rely on electrolytic hydrogen. The abundance of land and water resources in Southern and Central-East Africa West Africa South America Canada and Australia make these countries potential leaders in hydrogen export.

Following the introduction of the EU’s Hydrogen Strategy in 2020 as part of the European Green Deal some EU member states have deployed a very active hydrogen diplomacy. Germany The Netherlands and Belgium have been the most active ones establishing no less than 40 bilateral hydrogen trade partnerships with 30 potential export countries in the last three years. However concerns have been voiced about whether such hydrogen trade relationships can be economically feasible geopolitically wise environmentally sustainable and socially just. This article therefore evaluates these partnerships considering three risk dimensions: economic political and sustainability (covering both environmental and justice) risks. The analysis reveals that the selection of partner countries entails significant trade-offs. Four groups of partner countries can be identified based on their respective risk profile: “Last Resorts” “Volatile Ventures” “Strategic Gambits” and “Trusted Friends”. Strikingly less than one-third of the agreements are concluded with countries that fall within the “Trusted Friends” category which have the lowest overall risk profile. These findings show the need for policy makers to think much more strategically about which partnerships to pursue and to confront tough choices about which risks and trade-offs they are willing to accept.

Transforming Europe into a climate neutral economy and society by 2050 requires extraordinary efforts and the mobilisation of all sectors and economic actors coupled with all the creative and brain power one can imagine. Each sector has to fundamentally rethink the way it operates to ensure it can be transformed towards this new net-zero paradigm without jeopardising other environmental and societal objectives both within the EU and globally. Given the scale of the transformation ahead our ability to meet climate neutrality targets directly depends on our ability to innovate. In this context Research & Innovation programmes have a key role to play and it is crucial to ensure they are fit for purpose and well equipped to support the next wave of breakthrough innovations that will be required to achieve climate neutrality in the EU and globally by 2050. The objective of this study is to contribute to these strategic planning discussions by not only identifying high-risk and high-impact climate mitigation solutions but most importantly look beyond individual solutions and consider how systemic interactions of climate change mitigation approaches can be integrated in the development of R&I agendas.

In the current context of the ban on fossil fuel vehicles (diesel and petrol) adopted by several European cities the question arises of the development of the infrastructure for the distribution of alternative energies namely hydrogen (for fuel cell electric vehicles) and electricity (for battery electric vehicles). First we compare the main advantages/constraints of the two alternative propulsion modes for the user. The main advantages of hydrogen vehicles are autonomy and fast recharging. The main advantages of battery-powered vehicles are the lower price and the wide availability of the electricity grid. We then review the existing studies on the deployment of new hydrogen distribution networks and compare the deployment costs of hydrogen and electricity distribution networks. Finally we conclude with some personal conclusions on the benefits of developing both modes and ideas for future studies on the subject.

Hydrogen is an ideal energy carrier in future applications due to clean byproducts and high efciency. However many challenges remain in the application of hydrogen including hydrogen production delivery storage and conversion. In terms of hydrogen storage two compression modes (mechanical and non-mechanical compressors) are generally used to increase volume density in which mechanical compressors with several classifcations including reciprocating piston compressors hydrogen diaphragm compressors and ionic liquid compressors produce signifcant noise and vibration and are expensive and inefcient. Alternatively non-mechanical compressors are faced with issues involving large-volume requirements slow reaction kinetics and the need for special thermal control systems all of which limit large-scale development. As a result modular safe inexpensive and efcient methods for hydrogen storage are urgently needed. And because electrochemical hydrogen compressors (EHCs) are modular highly efcient and possess hydrogen purifcation functions with no moving parts they are becoming increasingly prominent. Based on all of this and for the frst time this review will provide an overview of various hydrogen compression technologies and discuss corresponding structures principles advantages and limitations. This review will also comprehensively present the recent progress and existing issues of EHCs and future hydrogen compression techniques as well as corresponding containment membranes catalysts gas difusion layers and fow felds. Furthermore engineering perspectives are discussed to further enhance the performance of EHCs in terms of the thermal management water management and the testing protocol of EHC stacks. Overall the deeper understanding of potential relationships between performance and component design in EHCs as presented in this review can guide the future development of anticipated EHCs.