Last 27th October 2021, the follow-up meeting of the MEDUSA 300 Phase I Project took place in the offices of the General Sub-Directorate for Planning, Technology and Innovation (SDG PLATIN) of the Ministry of Defence. The members of the MEDUSA Joint Venture, together with their collaborator the Fluid Physics Laboratory of the UNED, satisfactorily presented the results achieved related to the scaling, the optimisation of components and the design of 1 kW technological demonstrators. MEDUSA Joint Venture is a temporary union of companies constituted by the CIDAUT Foundation and JALVASUB Engineering to carry out the Phase I of the MEDUSA 300 Project.
The milestone reached is of great importance for the development of the next phases of the Project. It means having demonstrated the national technological and industrial capacity required to start, with all the guarantees and without risk, the manufacture of the PEM fuel cell demonstrators. This demonstration is intended to be on the real scale required for the S-80 submarine and with functional features achieved that even exceed those specified in the project.
This project will develop the fuel cell system for the AIP S-80 Spanish submarines, which will be based on the innovative design of the ULPHE-PEM (Ultra-Light Platinum Content High Efficient- PEM Fuel Cell). The ULPHE-PEM fuel cell is a new generation of polymeric fuel cells, which can operate both at low and high temperatures, and which is based on a completely Spanish-patented technology, more efficient and with lower weight, volume, and cost than those presently existing on the market.
Last November, two relevant events took place at national and European level in the field of energy and hydrogen, which CIDAUT had the opportunity to attend.
On 16, 17 and 18 November, the 24th edition of the Energy and Environment Fair, GENERA, was held in Madrid. The Spanish Hydrogen Association, AeH2, organised on 16 November, in collaboration with the Spanish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform (PTE HPC), the conference ‘Green Hydrogen: towards a sustainable energy system’, which was attended by CIDAUT.
This day began with a brief welcome by Miguel Peña, secretary of AeH2, followed by a short introduction by Javier Brey, president of the Association, who began by stating that “interest in hydrogen in Spain is growing exponentially, not only in industry, but also among the population. This interest is more than justified due to the great potential of these technologies to move towards the decarbonisation of our economy”.
Subsequently, two round tables were held with the presence of representatives from the main entities involved in the hydrogen sector. The first round table, with the participation of Carlos de la Cruz Molina, Director of Evaluation and Technological Cooperation of the CDTI, and Santiago González, Head of Renewable Hydrogen in the Department of Regulatory Framework and Corporate Strategy of the IDAE, debated hydrogen as a reactivator of the economy. The second round table was entitled: “Accelerating the development of hydrogen in Spain”. It was attended by the directors and heads of the hydrogen areas of the AeH2 promoter partners.
At European level, the European Hydrogen Week 2021 (EHW 2021) was held in Brussels from 29 November to 3 December. In this edition a hybrid organisation between on-site and online was chosen. CIDAUT attended virtually to the different presentations that took place.
The Week discussed the tremendous opportunities associated with the production and use of hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels in the different sectors of the economy and how hydrogen will play a key role in the European Green Deal. The EHW2021 marked the public launch of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership – as the successor of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). This edition featured sessions on the future research and deployment priorities for Clean Hydrogen as well the FCH JU Programme Review Days and the FCH JU Awards. The week will also saw the third European Clean Hydrogen Alliance Forum uniting its 1500 members. Topics covered the entire value chain needed to realise the hydrogen economy, scaling-up production, infrastructure, and end-use sectors, research and innovation priorities as well as skills and education.
Hydrogen Europe Research (HER) is the research grouping of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a unique public private partnership supporting research, technological development and demonstration (RTD) activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe. Gathering 91 research institutions (universities and research centres), HER support and promote research interests in the FCH JU and create a framework for cooperation of science and industry in Europe.
After a General Assembly held on 14 December 2020, 10 new members joined Hydrogen Europe Research and CIDAUT was one of them. The membership process involved a presentation by CIDAUT of its capabilities and areas of expertise. After the presentation of the candidates, HER voted on the nominations and CIDAUT was admitted together with 9 other institutions.
HER is now present across 26 countries and gathers 90 members and 1 associate member.
Hydrogen Europe Research´s mission is to promote, support and accelerate the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technology by aligning the European R&D community and providing a stronghold for cooperation with industry increasing the impact of research in the sustainable shift to the clean technologies and now CIDAUT is part of this important partnership in the world of hydrogen and fuel cells.
An international consortium of 40 organisations from Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Greece, led by the technological company ETRA, is launching ORANGE.BAT, an ambitious initiative to incorporate green hydrogen into the ceramics industry in Europe. This large-scale project, which includes the deployment of an innovative 100MW electrolyzer, was presented last 27/01/21 to the Green Deal call in order to request the support of the European Commission in this endeavour.
The partnership, of which CIDAUT forms part, includes major industrial players, research centres, institutional bodies and a cluster of off takers of the hydrogen to be produced. This makes possible for ORANGE.BAT to cover the full value chain, from green generation of hydrogen to the consumption of, not just the green hydrogen itself, but also all the by-products of the industrial process, in accordance with the principles of the circular economy. The planned large-scale pilot plant will be deployed nearby Castellón, in one of the most important ceramic industrial clusters in Europe, concentrating 95% of the ceramic industry of Spain and 33% of the CO2 emissions of the region.
ORANGE.BAT is expected to play an important role in exploiting the huge potential of green hydrogen to help Europe achieve its ambitious decarbonization objectives whilst at the same time securing a large number of high value industrial jobs.
CIDAUT contributes to ORANGE.BAT by development of technology for combustion systems using H2 fuel (burners and kiln integration) at both pilot and full scale.
For more information you can contact orange.bat@grupoetra.com or follow us in twitter at @ORANGEBAT_H2V.
Last October, AVL organised a series of technical conferences in online format, which addressed the new challenges in the automotive industry and the technological solutions to meet them.
AVL Digital Tech Week 2020 sought to show the keys to give the answer to the mobility challenges of today and tomorrow. Four two-hour sessions were held, in which AVL presented the technological trends and a partner from the automotive industry offered its specific vision on the subject. All presentations were of a high technical content and ended with a round table of questions. It was a very interesting opportunity to understand the current and future challenges.
The third session was focused on “Hydrogen – Hydrogen Generation and its application in mobility” where CIDAUT participated with one of the presentations that took place. On this occasion the presentation was entitled “Hydrogen value chain and mobility applications: CIDAUT experience” and was focused on CIDAUT’s experience and capabilities along the hydrogen value chain and especially in mobility applications and developments required for the use of hydrogen.
The day also included the presentation of AVL technicians who spoke about “AVL Fuel Cell Technology – A pathway to zero emission transportation” and the National Hydrogen Centre participated in the final round table.
