Hydrogen News

New regional network in North Rhine-Westphalia

A few weeks ago the cities of Bottrop, Gladbeck, Herten and Marl and a few other regional bodies joined to form an association called h2-netzwerk-ruhr. The mission of the association is to promote hydrogen and fuel cell technology in the Ruhr region. The network is a platform which intends to present the numerous business and institutional activities in the region on a national and international basis. The partners want to help the technology penetrating the market. Together the different nuclei can trigger the transition of the energy state North Rhine-Westphalia from a coal and steel region to a site for new energies. The official founding event will be on 11. March at Bottrop.

International Association for Hydrogen Safety founded

An international association called HySafe was founded on 26. February in Brussels. About 20 mainly European partners from research and industry take part. The objective is the safe use of hydrogen energy.

The main asset of the new association will be information. One of its activities will be the continuation of the International Conference on Hydrogen Safety (ICHS) which has been held twice. A hydrogen accident and incident database will be made accessible to scientifically qualified parties. There will be a close cooperation with European research projects in the framework of the JTI. Educational activities of various kinds will be started. Manfred Wilms (Research Centre Juelich) was elected chairman.

Annual DWV press conference

The annual press conference of DWV was held for the third time on 18. February in the building of the federal press conference in Berlin. The structure was the same which was successful in the past years: a general review of the events in 2008 and short statements on current developments.

The statements were about three topics: the relationship of battery and fuel cell, European politics, and the demands of DWV. Concerning the first point Peter Froeschle from Daimler AG pointed out the strong and weak points of combustion engine, battery, and fuel cell. The expenses for a hydrogen fuel infrastructure for private cars (1000 stations until 2017 would cost 1.5 to 2 G€) is feasible according to Froeschle. An infrastructure for charging battery cars would not be much cheaper, and the expenses would rise overproportionally with increasing numbers of vehicles while in case of hydrogen there would be a saturation effect.

The annual report and all materials and presentations are linked to the press release about the press conference on our German website.

Fork lift fleet being converted to hydrogen

A fleet of more than 200 forklifts at Central Grocers’ new distribution center in Joliet (Illinois, USA) is being converted to hydrogen. Air Products will build the filling station. Liquid hydrogen is stored outside, and the compressor is outside as well. Inside the building there will be multiple indoor fueling dispensers for operator refueling. This takes less than two minutes and does not require expert engineering knowledge. This completely eliminates the need to change, store, charge and maintain multiple lead acid batteries per lift truck.

There are many advantages to using hydrogen powered forklifts and other materials handling equipment. Hydrogen fuel cell-powered equipment needs refueling only once or twice daily, depending on use. In contrast, traditional battery-powered equipment must be placed temporarily out of operation for battery replacement and required battery recharging usually every four to six hours. Hydrogen fuel cell-powered equipment provides consistent power strength during use and do not have decreased performance or wear down as required battery change out and recharge time nears for traditional units.  Further, hydrogen-powered fuel cell equipment is more environmentally friendly, without associated lead-acid battery storage and disposal issues.

(Air Products press release of 11. December 2008)

Daimler to start production

In summer this year the car maker Daimler will start the production of the first fuel cell types, and within a few years the production will be ramped up to 100 000 per year. „We will have a moderate production rate starting in the middle of the year. We think that we can provide an attractive product without compromises“, said company head Dieter Zetsche in an interview with the car magazine auto motor und sport. „And we are confident that under the assumption of 100 000 cars per year for four or five years we will we can bring down the costs for a fuel cell drive train into the order of that for a Bluetec hybrid. This was not foreseeable just a short time ago.“

Due to the accelerated start of the production Daimler urges for progress in the negotiations on the creation of a hydrogen filling station network. „Together with a German partner we have analysed a network of 1000 filling stations. This means that the customer would have to cover not more than 35 km to get to the nearest filling station. This is not on the same level as present gasoline supply, but sufficient.“ Zetsche said that Daimler had done this analysis with Linde. Concerning the investment Zetsche hopes for cooperation to cover the high expenses. „The investment in Germany is about 1.7 G€. Not a hurdle that can not be mastered, but one alone can not do it either. I am enthusiastic how far we got already on this path.“

(auto motor und sport, 28. January 2009)

City of Copenhagen buys hydrogen vehicles

The City Council plans to purchase 15 hydrogen-powered vehicles to showcase the local authority’s sustainable energy initiatives in time for the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December. 15 converted battery vehicles for 14 MDKr (1.8 M€) will be bought. Klaus Bondam, vice mayor for technology and environment, said that the city has an order for 13 cars from Norwegian company Think and two work vehicles from French company Mega, together with plans to build a recharging station for the cars’ hydrogen fuel cells.

Each car will cost some 100 k€, about five times the price for a normal electric car. But Bondam says the advantages outweighed the financial burden. These cars can drive 600 kilometres on a full battery and charging only takes minutes, unlike having to charge an electric car overnight. City politicians are currently negotiating the location of the new hydrogen charging station. Bondam said the station would also be for public use and will be incorporated into an existing gas station. „You don’t change the world by having 15 hydrogen-powered cars, but it sends a clear signal that we are taking our part of the responsibility of changing modes of behaviour and modes of transportation among the authorities and the public.“

(The Copenhagen Post, 22. Januar 2009)

Hydrogen on the Canale Grande

The city utility of Venice has given the green light for the development of a water taxi with a hybrid drive. In 2013 a public transport fleet comprising 16 environmentally friendly water taxis with fuel cells and photovoltaic will circulate on the Canale Grande.

The project „Vision“, supported by funds of the Italian ministry for economy, requires an investment of 12 M€. Apart from the state owned shipyard Fincantieri a number of other Italian companies participate. The prototype with 240 passenger seats is expected to be ready in three years.

(Press release of 7. February 2009)

Ground-breaking ceremony at Herten

The ground-breaking ceremony for a hydrogen application center was held on 18. January at Herten in North Rhine-Westphalia. Herten plans to be the spider in the web of the industry. The financial volume of the project is 6.3 M€ of which 2.7 M€ will come from a state program for infrastructure. Renewable wind power will be integrated for the production of „green“ hydrogen to supply power and hydrogen to the building and the companies within. „This technical equipment makes our center something unique. Green hydrogen produced on-site was a reason for many companies to come here to Herten and to stay“, according to Peter Brautmeier, head of the administration company HTVG which rents the area to the users.

(Press release of the city of Herten)

Fuel Cells

Tiny fuel cell for small electronics

The smallest fuel cell of the world measures just (3 mm)² and is 1 mm thick. It has been developed by the University of in Urbana-Champaign and is to replace the battery in portable electronic devices. The energy density of a hydrogen tank is one order of magnitude higher than that of even the most advanced battery. The new cell has only four components, and neither of them needs external energy inupt. It operates and any orientation. The first prototypes delivered 0.7 V and 0.1 mA for 30 hours. The latest types deliver already about 1 mA. Since there is no external tank the system provides rather high power densities of 100 W/l.

(S. Moghaddam et al., Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 17 (2008) 1388-95)

World's greatest model project for stationary fuel cells in Japan

Two housing communities in the southern Japan prefecture of Fukuoka are participating in a four-year demonstration project to test the viability of hydrogen power, primarily for residential fuel cells. Nippon Oil Corporation and Seibu Gas Energy Co. will jointly start installing fuel cell systems in 150 houses later this year. The units are 1 kilowatt-class co-generation systems developed by Nippon that utilize hydrogen in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This system reportedly can supply about 60 % of the power consumption and about 80 % of the hot water supply of typical households. In addition, energy consumption is said to be reduced by about 30 % over conventional systems, and carbon dioxide emissions cut by up to 30%.

(Sustainable Business.com, 3. February 2009)

Energy and Climate

Putin declares cheap gas era closed

European gas consumers will have to get used to permanently higher gas prices, according to Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin. „The expenses for the development of gas fields rise sharply“, said the prime minister in a speech on occasion of the meeting of Natural Gas Exporting Countries on 23. December in Moscow. „This means of course that in spite of all the present financial problems the era of cheap energy supply, of cheap gas, is overt“, he added. Putin argued against using the international energy relationships for political purposes. „The interests of producers, consumers, and transit countries can only be harmonised by clear and long-term relationships on the basis of market conditions“, he said.

China promotes efficient vehicles

China is to promote the use of energy-efficient and new-energy vehicles in public sector in 13 cities, the ministry of Finance said on 26. January. The central government will offer subsidies for the by means of the ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology. The subsidy will be decided by the gap between the prices of energy-efficient vehicles and automobiles powered by traditional fuel. The program will be put into trial in public transport, taxi industry, postal and urban sanitary services in 13 cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

World record in photovoltaics achieved in Freiburg

Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) at Freiburg have achieved an efficiency of 41.1 % using multilayer solar cells. Current commercial silicon based solar modules achieve efficiencies between 14 and 20 %. That the solar cells from Freiburg are twice as efficient has to do with their design. Unlike conventional cells they are not made from silicon but from germanium or gallium compounds. The cells are stacked and can absorb the light in sequence in the blue-green, red, and infrared range. Another feature is that lenses concentrate the solar light before it hits the solar cell. With a concentration factor of 454 the world record of 41.1 % efficiency was achieved by the Freiburg group.

(ISE press release of 14. January 2009)

Politics

European regulation for approval of hydrogen vehicles now effective

The regulation of the European Union about the approval of road vehicles using hydrogen fuel has been published and is now effective after having been approved by the bodies of the EU last autumn (Regulation (EC) No. 79/2009). It specifies which rules apply to the type approval of the hydrogen drive, hydrogen containing components and hydrogen systems in hydrogen cars. There are also rules for the installation of such components and systems. Starting in 2011 new national approvals for vehicles using hydrogen fuels must conform to the new regulation. From 2012 on all old approvals will be void unless they agree with the new regulation.