Due to the challenging COVID-19 situation, the 60th Executive Committee (ExCo) Meeting of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Technology Collaboration Programme on Advanced Fuel Cells (AFC TCP) was organized as web conference, during June 17-18 2020. Initially, it was planned to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark and we like to thank our Danish ExCo member for all the work she has done to help prepare to host the ExCo members during this time.

28 participants were present during this meeting, a new record for the AFC TCP, including 24 ExCo members from Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.

A focal point in this ExCo meeting was on the national country updates as well as on the current reports dealing with fuel cell applications for transport, maritime applications and stationary fuel cell applications.

Also, Detlef Stolten (Forschungszentrum Jülich) was re-elected as Chair and Yali Zheng (SAE China) was elected as Vice-Chair for the AFC TCP. She is replacing Nancy Garland (US) and Jonghee Han (KIST).

For the third time, the AFC TCP collected data on the deployment of fuel cell vehicles as of end 2019. The AFC TCP team put together a very detailed report with information on vehicles, subsidy schemes and purchase prices in selected countries,  the status quo on the hydrogen refuelling station infrastructure with additional information on stations and an update on announced targets, visions and projections of different countries and collaborations.

This data is also being used for the Global Electric Vehicle Outlook 2020 from the International Energy Agency (link).

AFC TCP survey on the deployment of fuel cell vehicles as of end 2019 estimates a total of 25,212 vehicles worldwide. The number of passenger cars reached 18,913 showing 69% increase in one year. Most of the passenger cars are on the U.S. roads, whereas China dominates the numbers for buses and light- and medium-duty trucks. The total number of hydrogen refueling stations, including both public and non-public ones, reached 470. Public stations in three countries, namely Japan, Germany and the U.S. represent more than half of the total number of stations worldwide. The report also includes data on technical specifications of passenger cars, available incentives, technical data on refueling stations and finally some perspectives on a timeline. 

The complete survey with more information can be found under publications

The subject Heavy-Duty Vehicles Application (HDVA) has raised a lot of attention since the 57^th ExCo meeting held in Linz, Austria. Heavy-duty vehicles only account for a very small percentage of the total vehicle stock but are responsible for more than 80% of the total vehicle Nox and PM emissions.

The objective of this subtask is to monitor the progress and analyze the potential contribution of fuel cells in heavy-duty transport, to promote commercialization and the further development of fuel cell applications in heavy-duty transport.

For more information or if you are interested in joining the subtask please contact Mrs Yali Zheng (SAE China) directly.

The new Austrian government is dedicated to reaching carbon neutrality by the year 2040, with the intermediate target of covering the national electricity demand with 100% renewables by the year 2030. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are an essential part of this plan, as Austria is increasing its pace becoming one of the leading countries in green hydrogen technologies. To reach this goal, a hydrogen strategy will be released in 2020. In the past years public FCH R&D expenditures were already increased, amounting to almost 10 million euros in 2019. In the field of basic and applied research, a present focus is on reversible solid oxide cells, which are able to convert chemical energy into electrical energy or store electrical energy in form of chemical carries on demand. Apart from that, R&D efforts are now put into larger demonstration projects providing a level playing field for the whole value chain. For example, a Hydrogen Initiative Flagship Region (WIVA P&G) was established with the goal of transforming the Austrian economy to a strongly hydrogen-based energy system. During the eight yearlong implementation period, overall investments of 125 million euros (40 million from the Austrian Climate and Energy Funds) will be generated and put into different projects. One of these projects, for example, is the Renewable Gasfield project, where a holistic power-to-gas approach for the integration of fluctuating renewable power into the energy system with the use of PEM electrolysers is demonstrated.

Other highlights involve the construction of large-scale electrolysers for the provision of green hydrogen for industrial purposes and high-value markets. With the H2FUTURE project, a six MW PEM electrolyser is built and tested at the site of the steel-making company voestalpine in Linz. Near Innsbruck, a 3.2 MW rapid-response pressurized alkaline elctrolyser is built to provide hydrogen for industrial heating and mobility applications (Demo4Grid). The objectives of both projects also include the demonstration of providing grid services with an electrolyser.

Lastly, demonstration projects are also implemented in the mobility sector. The scope of the projects ranges from developing FC powered heavy-duty trucks, tractors or snow groomers to applications in the public transport sectors with the demonstration of FC buses or FC trains.

The Korean government has strong willing to move toward hydrogen economy and it adopts various policies and programmes to activate the hydrogen economy. Recently, the government announced the “Hydrogen Economy Roadmap 2040”, the strategical roadmap including Korea’s dissemination targets of fuel cells and hydrogen. Furthermore, the government published the “Hydrogen Technology Roadmap” as an action plan for technology development. The government keeps to invest in R&D of fuel cells and hydrogen and also it subsides fuel cell vehicles, fuel cell systems for power generation and hydrogen refueling stations to facilitate dissemination. As results of these policies and programmes, many remarkable R&D results, such as sequentially aligned cation and anion exchange membranes for non-humidified operation, were published in 2019.

With the opening of the second public hydrogen refueling station in Switzerland in July 2020, Switzerland is preparing the launch of the first 50 Hyundai XCINT fuel cell commercial vehicles, with a total towing weight of 36 t, hitting the road until the end of 2020. By the end of 2020, Switzerland will have six hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) operational on the route between Lake Constance and Lake Geneva with stations in St. Gallen, Rümlang, Hunzenschwil, Zofingen, Berne and Crissier. The HRS will offer green hydrogen for commercial vehicles (350 bar) and passenger cars (700 bar).

Until 2025, the plan is to have a total of 1.600 fuel cell electric heavy-duty trucks on the road in Switzerland with a widespread network of HRS.

More information can be found on www.h2energy.ch

In Lower Saxony's Bremervoerde (Germany), the world's first hydrogen filling station for passenger trains will be built starting in September. Representatives of the state and the companies involved met on site for a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony. An eighteen-month test phase for the first two trains was successfully completed at the end of February. The mobility project, which has attracted worldwide attention, is now entering its next phase.

The gases and engineering company Linde will build and operate the hydrogen filling station near Bremervoerde station on behalf of the Lower Saxony Regional Transport Company (LNVG). Other project partners are the rail vehicle manufacturer Alstom, the state of Lower Saxony and the Elbe-Weser Railways and Transport Company (EVB).

After completion expected in mid-2021, the hydrogen filling station will replace the existing mobile filling solution. With a capacity of around 1,600 kg of hydrogen per day, it is nominally one of the largest hydrogen filling stations in the world. From the beginning of 2022, 14 hydrogen-powered regional trains supplied by Alstom will be refuelled there daily and around the clock if necessary. Thanks to a range of 1,000 kilometers, the multiple-unit trains will be able to run emission-free all day long on the EVB network with just one tank filling. Expansion areas at the filling station will allow hydrogen to be produced on site later using electrolysis and regenerative electricity.

The project is subsidized by the national innovation programme for hydrogen and fuel cell technology of the Federal Ministry of Transport, and Digital Infrastructure NOW GmbH will coordinate the funding guideline and Project Management Jülich (PtJ) is responsible for the implementation.

In response to a direct request from AFC TCP, Alstom announced that it had received 41 orders for hydrogen trains to date.

More information can be found here

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has initiated the initiative “Today in the Lab – Tomorrow in Energy?”. The overall aim is to raise the awareness and interest among decision-makers and beyond for the important role of R&D for our energy future in general, and the ground-breaking research that currently is being conducted within the wider Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP) network.

AFC TCP is, therefore, looking for groundbreaking research projects within the AFC TCP or the wider network of the TCP, that fit the following criteria:

1. The project should be easy to communicate through social media
2. The project should have received funding and testing has started
3. The project shall be pre-commercial (basic and applied research)
4. The project´s intended application addresses key energy policy concerns, such as sutainability and energy security
5. The project is being conducted within the wieder network of the TCP

The IEA recently launched a respective website for the initiative: https://www.iea.org/reports/today-in-the-lab-tomorrow-in-energy. In the first wave, 6 projects were chosen by the IEA to be uploaded on the website. In the second wave, further projects will be uploaded, including one in the field of fuel cells and hydrogen.

If you have a R&D project in the field of fuel cells which fit the criterias above, please get in contact with the AFC TCP secretariat, so that we can support the project to be available for the IEA.