CIDAUT emphasises on the opportunities for mobility with renewable hydrogen in Castilla y León

On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, “miciudadatodogas initiative”, together with the León City Council, organized the conference “Renewable Gas, Mobility and Sustainable Development”. This conference was followed in online format by more than 70 attendees related to natural and renewable gas.

On behalf of CIDAUT, researcher José Ignacio Domínguez took part in the 2nd Roundtable “Renewable Gases and the promotion of the development of a just transition strategy” where he commented on the opportunities in mobility with renewable hydrogen in Castilla y León. During the event, low-carbon economy projects and initiatives were announced that, in addition to contributing to the decarbonization process, also collaborate in the deployment of the Spanish just transition strategy.

This event also allow the attendees to learn about the new sustainable mobility strategy that the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda is promoting at national level, as well as the policies that are being developed in this matter by Junta de Castilla y León and the City Council of León.

miciudadatodogas is a public-private initiative, involving companies related to natural and renewable gas and sustainable cities committed to the circular economy and the fight against climate change.

CIDAUT attends two hydrogen events: the World hydrogen congress and Green Gas Mobility event

The World Hydrogen Congress took place online from 22-24 September and CIDAUT could attend it thanks to the collaboration of AeH2. The World Hydrogen Congress is the annual meeting place for senior decision-makers right across the hydrogen production and distribution value chain. An outstanding executive line up augmented by strong association support from both the blue and green hydrogen markets is leading to what promises to be a unique event for all hydrogen executives.

The congress lasted for three days with presentations and debates from the main stakeholders in the hydrogen sector through an innovative platform of thought-leaders, exchanges and debates between key hydrogen stakeholders, technology & science providers and world-leading industry views.

Continuing with hydrogen-related events, CIDAUT, as a member of GASNAM (an association that promotes the use of natural gas, hydrogen and renewable gas in mobility, both land and sea, in the Iberian Peninsula), attended the annual meeting on gas mobility that this association organizes.

This year, under a 100% virtual format, the Green Gas Mobility Online Event has had more than 50 conferences, B2B meetings, and a large virtual exhibition. For three days, from October 22 to 24, the benefits that the use of carbon neutral gases such as biomethane, synthetic gas or hydrogen brings to mobility have been analyzed.

CIDAUT supports European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and Spanish Hydrogen Roadmap

European Clean Hydrogen Alliance (ECH2A) was launched earlier this summer, following the European Commission’s presentation of an EU Hydrogen Strategy, and has rapidly grown to over 400 members (companies, research organizations and public authorities). CIDAUT is one of the members that support the alliance within the Research Centers and intends to be present at the working groups that will be organized soon.

ECH2A as a partnership across countries and industries will pave the way for a strong European position in hydrogen technologies and applications. With the alliance, the EU wants to build its global leadership in this domain, to support the EU’s commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The alliance will establish an investment agenda and support the scaling up of the hydrogen value chain across Europe. The alliance will play a crucial role in facilitating and implementing the actions of the new European hydrogen strategy and in particular its investment agenda. An industry blueprint estimates investments of €430 billion until 2030. It will also be important in the context of the new energy system integration strategy.

But this has not been the only event around hydrogen in which CIDAUT has been present. As a great milestone, last October 6th, the Spanish Government approved the Hydrogen Roadmap: a commitment to renewable hydrogen“. A total of 78 entities, organizations, associations and individuals have sent contributions to the public consultation of the Hydrogen Roadmap among which is CIDAUT.

With this roadmap, the Government at the proposal of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge is promoting the deployment of this sustainable energy vector, which will be key to Spain achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. The development of renewable hydrogen will promote the creation of innovative industrial value chains in the country, technological knowledge and the generation of sustainable employment, contributing to the reactivation towards a high added value green economy.

Some key points to note:

-60 measures & objectives for the implementation of renewable hydrogen by 2030, aimed at the production of renewable hydrogen and the following areas: industry, mobility and the electricity sector or energy storage.

-An intermediate milestone for 2024 is considered: 300-600 MW of installed electrolyzer power.

A great step to advance towards a hydrogen economy in our country, in which CIDAUT will continue working to promote the technological and industrial development of hydrogen.

CIDAUT returns to the session of the AeH2 in GENERA 2020 one more year

On February 5th, AeH2 organized the Technical Conference “Hydrogen: a key to ensure climate neutrality” held within the framework of the Renewable Energy and Environment Fair, GENERA in Madrid. The full capacity of this conference shows the growing interest in these technologies that will be key in the path towards climate neutrality.

Both at national level, with the Law on Climate Change and the Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate 2021-2030 (PNIEC), and at international level, with the Green Deal, objectives of renewable energy penetration and decarbonization of the economy are setting very ambitious to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

And that focused on the first part of the Conference: “Climate Neutrality in 2050: the European Green Deal and the Spanish PNIEC” with the participation of D. Alexandru Floristean, legal & project manager in Hydrogen Europe, D. Santiago González, of the department of Regulatory Framework and Corporate Strategy of IDAE and Mr. Javier Brey, president of AeH2. It was moderated by Mr. Antonio González, vice president of AeH2.

In the second part of the conference, moderated by Mr. Miguel A. Peña, secretary of the AeH2, partners of the AeH2 presented hydrogen-based solutions to achieve climate neutrality. It was at this time when CIDAUT, represented by José Ignacio Domínguez, presented its capabilities and work proposals in the production of hydrogen from renewable sources. The rest of the presentations also demonstrated that hydrogen has a great potential in Spain and the drive of projects based on these technologies represents a clear commitment to sustainability and an increasingly green future.

CIDAUT attends several hydrogen events in Brussels

Hydrogen is an essential key in Europe’s energy transition and its efforts to cut carbon emissions and tackle climate change.  It is therefore expected to play an important role in the European Commission’s Green Deal. The FCH sector is also a valuable source of future jobs and growth in a green economy and CIDAUT is focused on this strategy.

Different events have taken place in Brussels at the end of November in relation to hydrogen technologies and fuel cells. CIDAUT had the opportunity to be there.

Programme Review Days 2019

The Programme Review Days (PRD) 2019 took place on the 19th and 20th of November in Brussels preceding the FCH JU Stakeholder Forum on the 21st of November

The Programme Review Days, organised annually, aims to provide an overview on the progress of the FCH JU funded projects. It constitutes an excellent visibility platform for the projects and the technological developments achieved in the sector and provides networking opportunities for the participants.

A number of 27 projects and 3 studies as well as other FCH JU initiatives, were featured this year, gathered around the following main sessions: Hydrogen for Sectoral Integration, Fuel Cell Applications for Energy, Fuel Cell Applications for Transport and Support for Market Uptake.

FCH JU Awards 2019

The Awards were presented at a ceremony at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels on 20 November 2019, attended by about 300 industry, research and EU representatives. The winners were chosen by public vote, which mobilised the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen community around the 24 nominees – 12 for each category (success stories and innovation).

This year’s Best Success Story, ‘Driving forward fuel cell technologies’, is looking at a series of projects (VOLUMETRIQ, INSPIRE, CRESCENDO, GAIA and PEGASUS) which are making fuel cells more affordable and competitive.

“These projects are delivering results that enable Europe to be a leader in the fuel cell technology and have a strong impact on the clean energy transition. The aim is to pry open market potential, ensuring a greener future for the EU’s transport sector” said FCH JU’s Executive Director Bart Biebuyck.

BIG HIT project was presented with a special award for Best Outreach Hydrogen achievements in Scotland (Orkney Islands).

Stakeholder Forum 2019

“The green energy transition is not an option but a necessity. I see a pivotal role for clean hydrogen…it is an area where Europe is still leading. Why not extend the lead on something that could be one of the most important solutions for clean energy?” said Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, in the opening session of the 2019 Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) Stakeholder Forum, on 21st November. ‘The most important thing is that you help us to find ways to make relatively quick successes to show people that it works’ continued Timmermans,” addressing the forum – energy and climate experts from industry, research, EU institutions and local and regional authorities.

Discussions among more than 500 Forum participants in Brussels’ Charlemagne building focused on how to tackle the remaining hurdles to deployment, the importance of promoting an innovation culture in activating new markets, and the impact of synergies and international scale-up efforts on growth and jobs. Delegates explored the latest developments in the sector, showing how Europe is capitalising on new FCH developments and forging ahead towards a zero-emission economy.

Participants could also download the event app to stay up date with the conference programme and also join us on social media by following @fch_ju on Twitter – #PRD2019 #SF2019 #CleanHydrogen.

S3P HYDROGEN VALLEYS Working Groups

And to close the week, CIDAUT attended the meetings organized by the S3P Hydrogen Valleys working groups that took place on Friday the 22th November.

The working groups have been organized based on themes that arouse common interests for the development of interregional projects. Thus, CIDAUT as a representative and supporting the region of Castilla y León attended the meetings of the Hydrogen Production, Transportation and Storage groups, as well as Mobility uses. The objective of these groups is the approach of projects in the different themes that can be presented at the Hyvolution event that will take place on February 4 in Paris. CIDAUT will co-coordinate Production working group with Aragon Hydrogen Foundation and University of Bologna.