The first public workshop on H2 applications and end users was held in Zaragoza (Spain) the 8th November 2017.
The Workshop event was organized on the frame of H2020 ELYntegration, FCH2 JU project based on the evaluation and demonstration of grid integrated electrolysers for energy applications.
The increase of intermittent renewable energy penetration is changing the way how the European electrical energy market is organized. More flexibility on the power supply-demand management and the consolidation of a energy backbone network are the key for the future of European energy grids. Regarding such new situation, hydrogen as a key energy vector and water electrolysis as new sustainable technology posses a huge potential in the future electrical energy market.
Working group to discuss different conclusions after the presentations of the Workshop
Within the international workshop, seven experts from relevant companies and research institutions were invited to share their experiences on three main topics: (1) the electricity market paradigm, (2) H2 as the link between electricity and gas market and (3) end uses of H2. The workshop was intended to share knowledge about the challenges, discuss on the barriers and share lessons learnt to relevant stakeholders. After each session fruitful discussions were addressed not only by sharing technical issues but also by exploring possible scenarios, trends and the potential opportunities.
Three main highlights were the output of the workshop at the end of the day:
- the greatest potential for electrolyser technology and hydrogen might be at transmission level,
- Hydrogen is seen as the future backbone network solution however how to get the market is the main challenge,
- regulation and legislation codes are essential to boost the market.
More information about the workshop conclusions, including a summary of the presentations and discussions, will be reported in the project website.
The Elyntegration project
Nowadays, water electrolysis for hydrogen production and in particular pressurised alkaline water electrolysis, in addition to its traditional role in the chemical industry, has the potential to become a key enabling technology in the frame of generation, transmission and distribution scenarios integrating high renewable energies shares, providing grid services and being an energy storage system. However, and despite its maturity, this technology should be further improved to meet the technical and economical requirements to provide a variety of energy services.
Within this context, the strategic goal of ELYntegration is the design and engineering of robust, flexible and cost competitive Multi Megawatt alkaline water electrolyser capable of producing with a single stack up to 4.5 ton H2/day for energy applications. A set of specific objectives has been defined for the project, both at functional capabilities level and value proposition.
The six participants involved in this project, providing both research and industrial backgrounds, are Fundación para el Desarrollo de las Nuevas Tecnologías del Hidrógeno en Aragón (FHA, Spain), Industrie Haute Tecnhonogie SA (IHT, Switzerland), Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologisch Onderzoek N.V. (VITO, Belgium), Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung EV (Fraunhofer-IFAM, Germany), Instrumentación y Componentes SA (INYCOM, spain) and Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (IAEW RWTH Aachen, Germany).
