Transportation

Hydrogen on Wadden Islands

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Way of hydrogen in the Wadden sea
© H2Watt

Hydrogen is considered crucial to transforming the energy market, especially in the northern parts of Germany and the Netherlands with their growing number of clean energy systems. On two North Sea islands, INTERREG project H2Watt is now investigating the opportunities that a hydrogen infrastructure can provide before it will put ideas into practice. Where will it be eco-friendly to switch to hydrogen? What is the best way to accomplish this? Representing a microcosm of a supply chain, both islands offer the perfect chance to study the real-world use of hydrogen. In late April, H2Watt was kicked off by a week-long virtual event showing video clips created by the project’s partners.

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Total restructuring

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Petersen
Jan Petersen, © Total

Since January, Jan Petersen has been in charge of developing forward-looking transportation solutions at Total in Germany. He is heading a new division that aims to install not only ultrafast chargers but also hydrogen and natural gas stations. Bruno Daude-Lagrave, the chief executive of Total Deutschland, said the company created the department to respond quickly to market changes and make an active contribution to emissions reduction. He added that the main goal of Total is to be able to provide the energy needed for future generations of vehicles, a goal that can only be achieved by using a combination of different technologies.

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Europe drives ahead with hydrogen-powered vehicles

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Electrolyser Linz
6-MW-electrolyser at the steel plant in
Linz, © voestalpine, H2FUTURE

Europe is leading the way in developing the breakthrough technologies needed to realise hydrogen’s energy potential. With hydrogen-powered buses and taxis being used across major cities, we have demonstrated that the technology can be used on a large scale.

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How to optimize power-to-gas

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Creating synthetic methane by using electricity produced from renewable sources of energy or non-fossil carbon.
Creating synthetic methane by using electricity produced from renewable sources of energy or non-fossil carbon, © MethQuest

The MethQuest project investigates the creation of methane from renewable sources of energy and its use in stationary systems and vehicles by studying the entire value chain of the gas. This holistic approach promises technological advances in areas that range from production and methods such as electrolysis to the required infrastructure and end use of the gas.

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New Priorities in Hanover

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Emmanuel-Macron
In 2016, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron visited Hanover

For many years, heating systems based on fuel cells had played a central role on the joint booth Hydrogen + Fuel Cells + Batteries at Hannover Messe. This time, however, the Fuel Cell Initiative, IBZ, was nowhere to be found, not because there was no interest in the technology, but because it has been made available on the market.

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Synergies Between Space Flight, Energy and Transportation

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dlr-site-test-vulcain-2
Testing the Vulcain 2 at DLR site

The Institute of Space Propulsion of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Lampoldshausen is one of Europe‘s largest hydrogen consumers. The organization primarily uses cryogenic hydrogen to test the main and upper stage engines of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket. The experiences made during those tests will now be expanded even further: Together with ZEAG Energie, the DLR is planning to implement a regenerative hydrogen process chain. It creates the required hydrogen in a 1 MW PEM electrolysis system, which draws its power from the neighboring wind farm Harthäuser Wald

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Hybrid Cars Put the Brakes on Electric Transportation

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Juergen Halasz-web
Jürgen Halasz

The number of electric vehicles in use on Austrian roads could grow from 4,700 to around 8,000 this year, according to a statement made by the country’s environmental protection agency. In 2017, the figure could jump to 23,000; in 2020, there could be around 174,000 electric cars driving in the Alpine state. Jürgen Halasz, chair of the association for electric transportation at the federal level (BEÖ, see also HZwei issue from April 2015), an organization founded at the beginning of last year, believes that even a figure of 250,000 will be possible. All of these forecasts, however, include plug-in hybrids as well.

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Technology Rollout Program Not Before Mid-2016

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Herdan_Thorsten_BMWi-web
Thorsten Herdan, © BMWi

Most of his working life, Thorsten Herdan held jobs in the industry developing combustion technology. After having been elected secretary-general of the International Council on Combustion Engines, the mechanical engineer also served as chair of the Research Association for Combustion Engines for fourteen years. Since 1999, he has headed Power Systems, a sector group of the German Engineering Federation – from 2000 on, he has been responsible for Energy Policy there as well.

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First German Truck Stop with H2 Station

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truck stop h2 refueling
H2 refueling at truck stop (Source: Daimler)

As part of the 50 H2 stations by 2015 program, on 4th May 2015, the first hydrogen filling station to be situated on a German freeway was opened. The Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) officially opened the facility, which is situated at the Geiselwind truck stop, in the presence of the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Transportation and Digital Infrastructure, Dorothee Bär. The station

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