Belgium
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Observatory Technology and Market Report
Sep 2021
Publication
The information in this report covers the period January 2019 – December 2019. The technology and market module of the FCHO presents a range of statistical data as an indicator of the health of the sector and the progress in market development over time. This includes statistical information on the size of the global fuel cell market including number and capacity of fuel cell systems shipped in a calendar year. For this first edition data to the end of 2019 is presented where possible alongside analysis of key sector developments. Fuel cell system shipments for each calendar year are presented both as numbers of units and total system megawatts. The data are further divided and subdivided by: • Application: Total system shipments are divided into Transport Stationary and Portable applications • Fuel cell type: Numbers are provided for each of the different fuel cell chemistry types • Region of integration: Region where the final manufacturer – usually the system integrator – integrates the fuel cell into the final product • Region of deployment: Region where the final product was shipped to for deployment The data is sourced directly from industry players as well as other relevant sources including press releases associations and other industry bodies.
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Observatory Standards Report
Sep 2021
Publication
Purpose: The Standards module of the FCHO presents a large number of standards relevant for the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells. The standards are categorized in order to enhance ease of access and usability. The development of sector-relevant standards facilitates and enhances economies of scale interoperability comparability safety and many other issues. Scope: The database presents European and International standards. Standards from the following standards developing organizations are included: CEN CENELEC ISO IEC OIML. The report spans January 2019 – December 2019. Key Findings: The development of sector relevant standards on an international level continued to grow in 2019 on European level many standards are still in the process of being drafted. The recently established 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.
True Cost of Solar Hydrogen
Sep 2021
Publication
Green hydrogen will be an essential part of the future 100% sustainable energy and industry system. Up to one-third of the required solar and wind electricity would eventually be used for water electrolysis to produce hydrogen increasing the cumulative electrolyzer capacity to about 17 TWel by 2050. The key method applied in this research is a learning curve approach for the key technologies i.e. solar photovoltaics (PV) and water electrolyzers and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). Sensitivities for the hydrogen demand and various input parameters are considered. Electrolyzer capital expenditure (CAPEX) for a large utility-scale system is expected to decrease from the current 400 €/kWel to 240 €/kWel by 2030 and to 80 €/kWel by 2050. With the continuing solar PV cost decrease this will lead to an LCOH decrease from the current 31–81 €/ MWhH2LHV (1.0–2.7 €/kgH2) to 20–54 €/MWhH2LHV (0.7–1.8 €/kgH2) by 2030 and 10–27 €/MWhH2LHV (0.3–0.9 €/kgH2) by 2050 depending on the location. The share of PV electricity cost in the LCOH will increase from the current 63% to 74% by 2050.
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen: Joint Undertaking Programme Review 2017 Final Report
Dec 2018
Publication
The Programme Review Report ensures that the FCH JU programme is aligned with its strategy and objectives. This year the programme review was performed following a new procedure: it was carried out by the European Commission’s in-house science service the Joint Research Committee (JRC). The 2017 review pays particular attention to the added value effectiveness and efficiency of FCH JU activities. The review is structured around six panels under three pillars: transport energy and cross-cutting projects summarising the FCH JU Project Portfolio
Assessment and Lessons Learnt from HIAD 2.0 – Hydrogen Incidents and Accidents Database
Sep 2019
Publication
The Hydrogen Incidents and Accidents Database (HIAD) is an international open communication platform collecting systematic data on hydrogen-related undesired events (incidents or accidents). It was initially developed in the frame of the project HySafe an EC co-funded NoE of the 6th Frame Work Programme by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (EC-JRC) and populated by many HySafe partners. After the end of the project the database has been maintained and populated by JRC with publicly available events.<br/>Starting from June 2016 JRC has been developing a new version of the database (HIAD 2.01). With the support of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) the structure of the database and the web-interface have been redefined and simplified resulting in a streamlined user interface compared to the previous version of HIAD. The new version is mainly focused to facilitate the sharing of lessons learnt and other relevant information related to hydrogen technology; the database is publicly released and the events are anonymized. The database currently contains over 250 events. It aims to contribute to improve the safety awareness fostering the users to benefit from the experiences of others as well as to share information from their own experiences.<br/>The FCH 2 JU launched the European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP2) initiative in 2017. The mission of the EHSP is to assist the FCH 2 JU at both programme and project level in assuring that hydrogen safety is adequately managed and to promote and disseminate hydrogen safety culture within and outside of the FCH 2 JU programme. Composed of a multidisciplinary pool of experts – 16 experts in 2018 - the EHSP is grouped in small ad-hoc working groups (task forces) according to the tasks to be performed and the expertise required. In 2018 Task Force 3 (TF3) of the ESHP has encompassed the analysis of safety data and events contained in HIAD 2.0 operated by JRC and supported by the FCH 2 JU. In close collaboration with JRC the EHSP members have systematically reviewed more than 250 events.<br/>This report summarizes the lessons learnt stemmed from this assessment. The report is self-explanatory and hence includes brief introduction about HIAD 2.0 the assessment carried out by the EHSP and the results stemmed from the joint assessment to enable new readers without prior knowledge of HIAD 2.0 to understand the rationale of the overall exercise and the lessons learnt from this effort. Some materials have also been lifted from the joint paper between JRC and EHSP which will also be presented at the International Conference on Hydrogen Safety (ICHS 2019) to provide some general and specific information about HIAD 2.0.
Energy and Economic Costs of Chemical Storage
May 2020
Publication
The necessity of neutralizing the increase of the temperature of the atmosphere by the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in particular carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as replacing fossil fuels leads to a necessary energy transition that is already happening. This energy transition requires the deployment of renewable energies that will replace gradually the fossil fuels. As the renewable energy share increases energy storage will become key to avoid curtailment or polluting back-up systems. This paper considers a chemical storage process based on the use of electricity to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water. The obtained hydrogen (H2) can then be stored directly or further converted into methane (CH4 from methanation if CO2 is available e.g. from a carbon capture facility) methanol (CH3OH again if CO2 is available) and/or ammonia (NH3 by an electrochemical process). These different fuels can be stored in liquid or gaseous forms and therefore with different energy densities depending on their physical and chemical nature. This work aims at evaluating the energy and the economic costs of the production storage and transport of these different fuels derived from renewable electricity sources. This applied study on chemical storage underlines the advantages and disadvantages of each fuel in the frame of the energy transition.
Life Cycle Performance of Hydrogen Production via Agro-Industrial Residue Gasification—A Small Scale Power Plant Study
Mar 2018
Publication
This study evaluates the environmental profile of a real biomass-based hydrogen production small-scale (1 MWth) system composed of catalytic candle indirectly heated steam gasifier coupled with zinc oxide (ZnO) guard bed water gas shift (WGS) and pressure swing absorber (PSA) reactors. Environmental performance from cradle-to-gate was investigated by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Biomass production shows high influence over all impact categories. In the syngas production process the main impacts observed are global warming potential (GWP) and acidification potential (AP). Flue gas emission from gasifier burner has the largest proportion of total GWP. The residual off gas use in internal combustion engine (ICE) leads to important environmental savings for all categories. Hydrogen renewability score is computed as 90% due to over 100% decline in non-renewable energy demand. Sensitivity analysis shows that increase in hydrogen production efficiency does not necessarily result in decrease in environmental impacts. In addition economic allocation of environmental charges increases all impact categories especially AP and photochemical oxidation (POFP).
THyGA - Overview of Relevant Existing Certification Experience and On-going Standardization Activities in the EU and Elsewhere Related to Gas Appliances Using H2NG
Oct 2021
Publication
This 2nd deliverable from WP4 gives an overview of relevant existing certification experience on-going standardization activities and field trials in the European Union and other countries regarding gas appliances using H2NG. It gives a picture of the today’s situation as many of the identified initiatives are ongoing and progressing continuously.
Statistics, Lessons Learnt and Recommendations from the Analysis of the Hydrogen Incidents and Accidents Database (HIAD 2.0)
Sep 2021
Publication
The Hydrogen Incidents and Accidents Database (HIAD) is an international open communication platform collecting systematic data on hydrogen-related undesired incidents which was initially developed in the frame of HySafe an EC co-funded Network of Excellence in the 6th Frame Work Programme by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (EC-JRC). It was updated by JRC as HIAD 2.01 in 2016 with the support of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU). Since the launch of the European Hydrogen Safety Panel2 (EHSP) initiative in 2017 by FCH 2 JU the EHSP has worked closely with JRC to upload additional/new incidents to HIAD 2.0 and analyze them to gather statistics lessons learnt and recommendations through Task Force 3. The first report to summarise the findings of the analysis was published by FCH 2 JU in September 2019. Since the publication of the first report the EHSP and JRC have continuously worked together to enlarge HIAD 2.0 by adding newly occurred incidents as well as quality historic incidents which were not previously uploaded to HIAD 2.0. This has facilitated the number of validated incidents in HIAD 2.0 to increase from 272 in 2018 to 593 in March 2021. This number is also dynamic and continues to increase as new incidents are being continuously added by both EHSP and JRC; and validated by JRC. The overall quality of the published incidents has also been improved whenever possible. For example additional information has been added to some existing incidents. Since mid-2020 EHSP Task Force TF3 has further analysed the 485 events which were in the database as of July 2020. For completeness of the statistics these include the events considered in our first report3 as well as the newly added/validated events since then. In this process the EHSP has also re-visited the lessons learnt in the first report to harmonise the approaches of analysis and improve the overall analysis. The analysis has comprehensively covered statistics lessons learnt and recommendations. The increased number of incidents has also made it viable to extract statistics from the available incidents at the time of the analysis including previously available incidents. It should be noted that some incidents reported is of low quality therefore it was not included in the statistical analysis.
Research & Innovation for Climate Neutrality 2050: Challenges, Opportunities & the Path Forward
Jan 2024
Publication
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.
Scientific Assessment in Support of the Materials Roadmap enabling Low Carbon Energy Technologies Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Apr 2014
Publication
A group experts from European research organisations and industry have assessed the state of the art and future needs for materials' R&D for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The work was performed as input to the European Commission's roadmapping exercise on materials for the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. The report summarises the results including key targets identified for medium term (2020/2030) and long term (2050) timescales.
Boosting the H2 Production Efficiency via Photocatalytic Organic Reforming: The Role of Additional Hole Scavenging System
Nov 2021
Publication
The simultaneous photocatalytic H2 evolution with environmental remediation over semiconducting metal oxides is a fascinating process for sustainable fuel production. However most of the previously reported photocatalytic reforming showed nonstoichiometric amounts of the evolved H2 when organic substrates were used. To explain the reasons for this phenomenon a careful analysis of the products and intermediates in gas and aqueous phases upon the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from oxalic acid using Pt/TiO2 was performed. A quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) was used for the continuous flow monitoring of the evolved gases while high performance ion chromatography (HPIC) isotopic labeling and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) were employed to understand the reactions in the solution. The entire consumption of oxalic acid led to a ~30% lower H2 amount than theoretically expected. Due to the contribution of the photoKolbe reaction mechanism a tiny amount of formic acid was produced then disappeared shortly after the complete consumption of oxalic acid. Nevertheless a much lower concentration of formic acid was generated compared to the nonstoichiometric difference between the formed H2 and the consumed oxalic acid. Isotopic labeling measurements showed that the evolved H2 HD and/or D2 matched those of the solvent; however using D2O decreased the reaction rate. Interestingly the presence of KI as an additional hole scavenger with oxalic acid had a considerable impact on the reaction mechanism and thus the hydrogen yield as indicated by the QMS and the EPR measurements. The added KI promoted H2 evolution to reach the theoretically predictable amount and inhibited the formation of intermediates without affecting the oxalic acid degradation rate. The proposed mechanism by which KI boosts the photocatalytic performance is of great importance in enhancing the overall energy efficiency for hydrogen production via photocatalytic organic reforming.
Hydrogen-powered Aviation: A Fact-based Study of Hydrogen Technology, Economics, and Climate Impact by 2050
Jul 2020
Publication
This report assesses the potential of hydrogen (H2) propulsion to reduce aviation’s climate impact. To reduce climate impact the industry will have to introduce further levers such as radically new technology significantly scale sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) such as synthetic fuel (synfuel) temporarily rely on offsets in large quantities or rely on a combination thereof. H2 propulsion is one such technology and this report assesses its potential in aviation. Developed with input from leading companies and research institutes it projects the technological development of H2 combustion and fuel cell-powered propulsion evaluates their technical and economic feasibility compares them to synfuel and considers implications on aircraft design airport infrastructure and fuel supply chains.
Evolutions in Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Standardization: The HarmonHy Experience
Dec 2007
Publication
HarmonHy is a European Union-funded Specific Support Action aiming to make an assessment of the activities on hydrogen and fuel cell regulations codes and standards (RCS) on a worldwide level. On this basis gaps have been identified and potential conflicts between regulations codes and standards have been investigated. Types of document to be referred to include international regional and national standards EU directives UNECE regulations… Particular attention will be paid to the identification of the needs for standards as perceived by the industry as well as to actions aiming to ensure concordance between standards codes and regulations. Standards and regulations require harmonization. HarmonHy pursues the elaboration of an action plan and a roadmap for future work on harmonizing regulations codes and standards on hydrogen and fuel cells on an international level.
Strategies for Joint Procurement of Fuel Cell Buses
Jun 2018
Publication
The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) has supported a range of initiatives in recent years designed to develop hydrogen fuel cell buses to a point where they can fulfil their promise as a mainstream zero emission vehicle for public transport.<br/>Within this study 90 different European cities and regions have been supported in understanding the business case of fuel cell bus deployment and across these locations. The study analyses the funding and financing for fuel cell bus deployment to make them become a mainstream zero emission choice for public transport providers in cities and regions across Europe. It also outlines possible solutions for further deployment of FC buses beyond the subsidised phase.<br/>In the light of the experience of the joint tender process in the UK and in Germany the study highlights best practices for ordering fuel cell buses. Other innovative instruments explored in other countries for the orders of large quantities of fuel cells buses are presented: Special Purpose Vehicles and centralised purchase office. Finally the study deeply analyses the funding and financing for fuel cell bus deployment to make them become a mainstream zero emission choice for public transport providers in cities and regions across Europe.
Hydrogen for Net Zero - A Critical Cost-competitive Energy Vector
Nov 2021
Publication
The report “Hydrogen for Net Zero” presents an ambitious yet realistic deployment scenario until 2030 and 2050 to achieve Net Zero emissions considering the uses of hydrogen in industry power mobility and buildings. The scenario is described in terms of hydrogen demand supply infrastructure abatement potential and investments required and then compared with current momentum and investments in the industry to identify the investment gaps across value chains and geographies.
The report is based on the technoeconomic data of cost and performance of hydrogen technologies provided by Hydrogen Council members and McKinsey & Company as well as the Hydrogen Council investment tracker which covers all large-scale investments into hydrogen globally.
Link to their website
The report is based on the technoeconomic data of cost and performance of hydrogen technologies provided by Hydrogen Council members and McKinsey & Company as well as the Hydrogen Council investment tracker which covers all large-scale investments into hydrogen globally.
Link to their website
Few-atom Cluster Model Systems for a Hydrogen Economy
Apr 2020
Publication
To increase the share of renewable zero-emission energy sources such as wind and solar power in our energy supply the problem of their intermittency needs to be addressed. One way to do so is by buffering excess renewable energy via the production of hydrogen which can be stored for later use after re-electrification. Such a clean renewable energy cycle based on hydrogen is commonly referred to as the hydrogen economy. This review deals with cluster model systems of the three main components of the hydrogen economy i.e. hydrogen generation hydrogen storage and hydrogen re-electrification and their basic physical principles. We then present examples of contemporary research on few atom clusters both in the gas phase and deposited to show that by studying these clusters as simplified models a mechanistic understanding of the underlying physical and chemical processes can be obtained. Such an understanding will inspire and enable the design of novel materials needed for advancing the hydrogen economy.
Going Global: An Update on Hydrogen Valleys and their Role in the New Hydrogen Economy
Sep 2022
Publication
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.
Roadmap Towards Zero Emissions, BEVs and FCEVs
Oct 2021
Publication
A “combined world” of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will create a greener transportation sector faster and cheaper than one of the solutions alone. Hydrogen Council with analytical support from McKinsey and Company published a report that highlights the complementary roles of FCEVs and BEVs in a decarbonised transportation sector.
The analysis found that each solution has comparable systemic efficiencies and similar CO2 life cycle intensity. From the vehicle user perspective FCEVs and BEVs will provide the flexibility and convenience to meet their specific context of use and geographic location. Additionally the costs of two supporting infrastructure for FCEVs and BEVs is cheaper than one infrastructure network primarily due to the reduced peak loads and avoidance of costly upgrades on the electricity grid. The report’s messages were developed in dialogue with the Observatory Group which consisted of representatives of government agencies and academia as well as associations and companies active in sectors like regenerative electricity generation electricity grid equipment manufacturing electric vehicle charging fleet management.
The paper can be found on their website.
The analysis found that each solution has comparable systemic efficiencies and similar CO2 life cycle intensity. From the vehicle user perspective FCEVs and BEVs will provide the flexibility and convenience to meet their specific context of use and geographic location. Additionally the costs of two supporting infrastructure for FCEVs and BEVs is cheaper than one infrastructure network primarily due to the reduced peak loads and avoidance of costly upgrades on the electricity grid. The report’s messages were developed in dialogue with the Observatory Group which consisted of representatives of government agencies and academia as well as associations and companies active in sectors like regenerative electricity generation electricity grid equipment manufacturing electric vehicle charging fleet management.
The paper can be found on their website.
Hydrogen for the De-carbonization of the Resources and Energy Intensive Industries (REIIs)
Aug 2022
Publication
This study deals with the use of hydrogen for the de-carbonization of the Resources and Energy Intensive Industries (REIIs) and gives a specific insight of the situation of the steel-making industry. The growing use of hydrogen in our economy is synonym for an equal increase in electricity consumption. This results from the fact that the current most promising technologies of H2 production is water electrolysis. For this purpose the EU hydrogen strategy foresees a progressive ramp up of H2 production capacities. But bottlenecks (especially regarding energy needed for electrolysers) may occur. Capacities should reach 40 GW (around 10 Mt/y) by the end of 2030. The steel-making industry relies heavily on H2 to decarbonise its process (through direct iron ore reduction). Our study analyses the conditions under which this new process will be able to compete with both European and offshore existing carbonised assets (i.e. blast furnaces). It emphasises the need for integrated and consistent policies from carbon prices to the carbon border adjustment mechanism through carbon contracts for differences but also highlightsthat a better regulation of electricity prices should not be neglected.
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