Sven Geitmann

IPCEI technology wave initiated

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After a long wait, the European Commission has approved the first projects of IPCEI Hydrogen. With these Important Projects of Common European Interest, significant progress towards the establishment of a hydrogen economy is to be made. The associated special approval under EU state aid law means that much more funding can be allocated than would otherwise be permitted within Europe. Among the initial are four projects from Germany. More are to follow in the course of the year.

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Déjà vu in Stuttgart

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For all those who have been active a little longer in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry, it will be like déjà vu when they arrive at f-cell on October 4th, 2022. They will be walking from the S-Bahn station or airport to the Stuttgart fairgrounds, and not, as in previous years, to the Haus der Wirtschaft. And this very move – from the Stuttgart city center to the airport – has already been made once before, in 2008. At that time, however, still under the direction of Peter Sauber.

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Solar hydrogen boat on a course for Monaco

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Thirty-two students from TU Berlin university have set themselves the ambitious task of building a renewables-powered boat by spring 2023 and racing it in the 10th edition of the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge. So far they only have a 4-inch (10-centimeter) model of its two hulls. By June next year they intend to have a seaworthy catamaran complete with electric power system.

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Five out of 10 hydrogen living labs underway

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Ulrich Wagner, Trans4ReaL spokesman, © Trans4ReaL, Enno Kapitza
Ulrich Wagner, Trans4ReaL spokesman, © Trans4ReaL, Enno Kapitza

Here’s a sobering statistic: Out of a total of 10 hydrogen living labs, only five have actually been rolled out. Peter Altmaier, economy minister in the previous German government, had enthused grandiosely about the practical relevance of the projects he was supporting and went to great lengths to rebut any criticism of them. Even during the selection process, a fair number of voices could be heard complaining that the time for demos had passed. And yet Altmaier used the full force of his authority and sailed on. Today the reality is that the majority of these field trials have yet to swing into action, hampered by excessive bureaucracy and onerous conditions.

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Becoming an H2 district pays off

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The analyzed residence spaces of the housing co-op, © Bauverein, Tim-Online
The analyzed residence spaces of the housing co-op, © Bauverein, Tim-Online

So far, H2 has comprised only a tiny slice of the German gas grid. And the suitability of increasing this share to up to 30 percent is currently only being tested within the framework of individual, time-limited demonstration projects. H2 “micronets,” that is city districts or regions running 100 percent on hydrogen, are yet to exist. But Lennart Lohaus has recently demonstrated that H2-based solutions can already be economically attractive today. As part of his master thesis, he developed an optimization model for designing regenerative supply solutions with hydrogen as energy carrier for the coal district Rheinisches Revier.

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New brand for hydrogen-run garbage trucks

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Dr. Johannes F. Kirchhoff at Enginius – with the CityPower in the background
Dr. Johannes F. Kirchhoff at Enginius – with the CityPower in the background

The kickstart for Enginius could hardly have turned out better. On May 16th, 2022, Faun Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG introduced its new brand to the public in Bremen, and only two weeks later, the vehicle manufacturer from Niedersachsen was presented the first ever H2Eco Award during Hannover Messe. At the same time as the industrial fair, the subsidiary of the Faun Group also made a splash at IFAT 2022, the world-leading trade fair for environmental technologies, in Munich from May 30th to June 3rd.

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