The RD&D activities of the industry and the public sector have successfully established a global market for hydrogen and fuel cells. There is growing consensus about the importance of these clean energy carriers in transportation and several manufacturing segments. Countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States – and organizations such as the European Commission – have been spearheading efforts in research, development and demonstration technologically and politically to show how sustainable and reliable these resources really are. Others including China, South Korea and the United Kingdom are currently developing strategies and implementing initiatives needed for a significant impact on relevant targets in the energy, environment and transportation sectors. All of them have joined IPHE, the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy, a government-level project of 18 countries and the European Commission.

At Hannover Messe, IPHE could be found on April 25, 2017 at the joint booth Hydrogen + Fuel Cells + Batteries. As part of the Public Forum program, it organized two discussion forums with representatives from governments and industry to debate political strategies, regulatory and market aspects and opportunities for an accelerated introduction of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

Both IPHE forums featured representatives who had been working to promote the integration of markets and the use of clean energy and transport infrastructures. The debates revolved around the most recent H₂ and fuel cell developments ready for commercialization and around the question of what actions were needed for broad market adoption.

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Hosted by BMVI and NOW

The week of events closed with the 27th IPHE Steering Committee Meeting in Hamburg. During the meeting, the members of IPHE discussed what benefits and opportunities H2 and fuel cells can offer when used for clean energy supply, transportation, industrial processes and buildings (the buzzwords were “sector integration” / “sector coupling” / “hydrogen at scale”). Host of the IPHE event in Hamburg was the German federal transport ministry BMVI and the National Organization for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, or NOW for short.

The objective …

The organization’s members meet every half year in another partner country – one year ago, they came to Berkley, California, last fall to Gwangju, South Korea, and now to Hamburg.

www.iphe.net

Author: Alexandra Huss