Air Liquide hydrogen station in Koblenz grows German network

Air Liquide hydrogen station in Koblenz grows German network

NEWS allowing consumers anywhere in Europe to purchase green hydrogen to meet their sustainability targets, and hopefully boosting green hydrogen dema...

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NEWS allowing consumers anywhere in Europe to purchase green hydrogen to meet their sustainability targets, and hopefully boosting green hydrogen demand and supply throughout Europe. The CertifHy pilot will deliver a scheme for a realistic, detailed, and rapidly deployable Europe-wide green and low-carbon hydrogen GO scheme, and demonstrate how the system will work under real-world conditions and facilitate deployment. The project is expected to run for 12 months, with a possible sixmonth extension. In the first six months (October 2017 to April 2018), the pilot system will be designed – from specification to developing the pilot procedures, and setting up the IT and communications system. Plant operator preparation for plant and batch audits and certification will begin in parallel. Pilot operations are expected to be launched in March or April 2018. The first hydrogen GOs will be issued in June and July, and they will be traded and used in July and August. The pilot comprises four hydrogen production plants located throughout Europe and covering different production pathways: • Two pilot plants in Belgium and Germany, producing hydrogen by electrolysis with different electricity purchasing strategies. • A site in the Netherlands using a chlor-alkali process to produce green hydrogen. • A hydrogen production plant in France using steam methane reforming with a carbon capture and storage/utilisation (CCS/CCU) unit. A CertifHy Stakeholder Platform was set up during the recent FCH JU Stakeholder Forum in Brussels [see page 10], to support the implementation of the GO scheme and gather momentum. This will bring together all relevant and interested stakeholders to ensure that the GO scheme meets producer and user expectations, and that barriers and gaps in regulations and standards are addressed. CertifHy project: www.certifhy.eu Hinicio: www.hinicio.com

Air Liquide hydrogen station in Koblenz grows German network

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ir Liquide has inaugurated a hydrogen refueling station in Koblenz, marking another milestone in the continuing expansion of the hydrogen station network in Germany. 8

Fuel Cells Bulletin

This latest station – which has been in operation since October – is the first public hydrogen refueling station in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the third such facility at a motorway service station in Germany. The Air Liquide hydrogen refueling station is located on the A61 motorway, at the Autohof Bolz-Platz Esso service station on Am Rübenacher Wald in the Metternich district of Koblenz. The first autobahn hydrogen station opened in 2015, deploying a Linde unit at Geiselwind in northern Bavaria [FCB, June 2015, p7], and Air Liquide opened the second motorway station recently in Bad Rappenau, Baden-Württemberg [November 2017, p8]. The Koblenz station is one of the first 50 hydrogen stations to be built in Germany as part of the Clean Energy Partnership [see the CEP feature in June 2011], and subsidised by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) via its National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP), which is coordinated by Berlin-based NOW GmbH. The BMVI has provided around E900 000 (US$1.1 million) to subsidise construction and operation of this station. ‘We need to face the challenges of energy transition now. And hydrogen is today one of our best solutions to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement,’ says Markus Schewitza, managing director and CEO of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies GmbH. ‘Hydrogen has notably the potential to efficiently decarbonise the transport sector, which is one of the major sources of pollution in our cities, but it requires a dedicated infrastructure to achieve this goal.’ The company is active globally right across the hydrogen supply chain; for example, Air Liquide Japan is currently building the first hydrogen refueling station in Kawasaki City, expected to open in spring 2018 [see page 7]. The German hydrogen refueling network continues to expand, with several new sites opening recently, including facilities in Munich [November 2017, p8], Bremen and Cologne [November 2017, p10]. These latest openings mean there are now 42 publicly accessible hydrogen stations in Germany, as the country aims to have 100 in operation by the end of 2018, and as many as 400 stations by 2023 [October 2013, p6]. Air Liquide, Hydrogen Energy: http://tinyurl.com/hydrogen-energy-airliquide Clean Energy Partnership: www.cleanenergypartnership.de/en National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology: http://tinyurl.com/nip-h2fc-tech NOW GmbH: www.now-gmbh.de/en

energy storage

ITM Power large-scale P2G energy storage study with NGN

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n the UK, ITM Power has secured funding from the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the Energy Storage Feasibility Study Competition, launched in January, to collaborate with Northern Gas Networks (NGN) to undertake a study that will examine the potential deployment of large-scale Power-toGas (P2G) energy storage. The feasibility study will focus on deployments capable of operating costeffectively from 50 MWh energy storage capacity upwards, within the boundaries of the NGN natural gas distribution network. The study will provide detailed technical, economic, and site-specific information about largescale P2G energy storage, which will enable a decision on a potential large-scale energy storage demonstration project. Power-to-Gas is a scalable energy storage technology capable of absorbing power from the electricity grid at times when supply exceeds demand, and when intermittent renewable generation causes network stability problems. Electric power is converted to chemical energy in the form of hydrogen, which can be injected and stored in the natural gas network. The network has the capacity to store energy indefinitely, so P2G has the potential to store MW to GW for durations that can extend from hours to many months. ‘The whole systems approach and Powerto-Gas technology are incredibly exciting prospects for the UK’s future energy mix, and we’re delighted to be a partner in this pioneering project, part of which will take place at InTEGReL, our whole systems facility near Gateshead,’ says Mark Horsley, CEO of Northern Gas Networks. ‘As renewable power generation increases, effective storage and transmission of surplus power will become ever more important. Instead of being lost, this surplus power has the potential to be turned into alternative ‘green’ fuels such as hydrogen, and stored in the gas network for later use in transport, heat or generation,’ explains Horsley. ‘This study will provide unique insight into how we answer some of the energy challenges we’re facing, and how by bringing gas and electricity together, we can ultimately drive down costs for customers, increase resilience, and improve sustainability.’

December 2017