The Design 2 service project aims at simplifying both residential and commercial fuel cell systems for easy, fast and save system service and maintenance. In order to make best use of lessons learned and available resources, this project jointly works on two distinguished technologies (PEMFC and SOFC) in two different markets (residential & extended UPS). Both SME manufacturers are committed to establish lean after-sales structures, a significant step towards mass manufacturing and deployment. Maintenance is one significant part of Total Cost of Ownership of FC systems. Pooling the operational experience of field test programs, such as ene.field and Callux, critical analysis will lead to a priority list of required technical changes. For cold Balance of Plant Components, joint efforts will focus on the desulphuriser and the water treatment system. Actions are taken for both simplified maintenance and extended durability for prolonged service intervals. Logistics for replacement component supply will be considered. For the hot component parts, the manufacturers work on their individual hot topics to adapt and simplify the design of the current units, e.g. to allow replacement of individual components instead of sub-units. A large decrease of costs impact is expected once individual stacks can be changed in a simple maintenance operation instead of complete sub-units. It is important that such operations can be performed by a significant pool of qualified installers. This is addressed by the elaboration of simple technical manuals that will be exposed to real-life practical technicians in training programs. These actions aim at decreasing the technical barrier to service systems. Finally, the improved BoP units will be validated by testing single and multiple units. Beyond the classical features of high efficiency and silent operation, this will also add values like flexibility and modularity of FC technologies with respect to individual customer requests.

LOTER.CO2M aims to develop advanced, low-cost electro-catalysts and membranes for the direct electrochemical reduction of CO2 to methanol by low temperature CO2-H2O co-electrolysis. The materials will be developed using sustainable, non-toxic and non-critical raw materials. They will be scaled-up, integrated into a gas phase electrochemical reactor, and the process validated for technical and economic feasibility under industrially relevant conditions. The produced methanol can be used as a chemical feedstock or for effective chemical storage of renewable energy. The demonstration of the new materials at TRL5 level, and the potential of this technology for market penetration, will be assessed by achieving a target electrochemical performance > 50 A/g at 1.5 V/cell, a CO2 conversion rate > 60%, and a selectivity > 90% towards methanol production with an enthalpy efficiency for the process > 86%. A significant increase in durability under intermittent operation in combination with renewable power sources is also targeted in the project through several stabilization strategies to achieve a degradation rate of 2-5 Hz) to electrical current fluctuations typical of intermittent power sources and a wide operating range in terms of input power, i.e. from 10% to full power in less than a second. Such aspects are indicative of an excellent dynamic behaviour as necessary to operate with renewable power sources. A life cycle assessment of the CO2 electrolysis system, which will compile information at different levels from materials up to the CO2 electrolysis system including processing resources, will complete the assessment of this technology for large-scale application. Field testing of the co-electrolysis system in an industrial relevant environment will enable to evaluate the commercial competitiveness and the development of a forward exploitation plan.

The HySeas III project will bring to market the world’s first zero emission, sea-going ferry that will be powered by hydrogen from renewable sources. It builds on the consortium experience, which previously developed the first diesel/electric hybrid ferry in 2013, and involves the leading European supplier of hydrogen fuel cell modules (Ballard Power Systems). The project will not only develop and validate this advanced ferry concept but a prototype version will be constructed and demonstrated in operational service with co-funding from the regional Government in Scotland (which will commission the building of the ferry). It will also demonstrate a novel circular economy model for the local production of hydrogen fuel that could transform the coastal and island economies around Europe. It will be implemented by eight complementary partners, from six countries (BE, DE, DK, FR, NO, UK), through seven interrelated work packages. These include the development and land-side testing of the complete drivetrain, integration within a new concept ferry design and monitoring of its performance in a real island-to-island environment (Orkney Islands). In addition, there will be a dedicated work package aimed at rapid exploitation based on evidence from the marine trials and an innovative business model to overcome the capital investment barriers to replication. The communication & dissemination work package will include engagement with potential follower regions across Europe and be led by the European Office of Interferry, which represents the worldwide ferry industry. Other relevant European associations and networks will participate in a ‘Stakeholder Advisory Group’ to ensure that the results are widely disseminated to all interested parties.

Green hydrogen is one of the most promising solutions for the decarbonisation of society. Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is already a mature technology but its large footprint makes it inadequate for producing the energy vector at GW scale. Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) on the other hand is compact but its dependence on iridium and other expensive materials poses a serious threat for up-scaling. Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) combines the benefits of both technologies. However, its key performance indicators (KPI) do not reach commercial requirements and are lacking competitiveness. NEWELY project aims to redefine AEMWE, surpassing the current state of AWE and bringing it one step closer to PEMWE in terms of efficiency but at lower cost. The three main technical challenges of AEMWE: membrane, electrodes and stack are addressed by 3 small-medium-enterprises (SME) with their successful markets related to each of these topics. They are supported by a group of 7 renowned R&D centres with high expertise in polymer chemistry and low temperature electrolysis. The SMEs and one of the largest hydrogen companies in the world will oversee that the new developments have a clear commercial perspective, placing Europe at the lead of AEMWE technology in three years. In this period , the NEWELY consortium will develop a prototypic 5-cell stack with elevated hydrogen output pressure. It will contain highly conductive and stable anionic membranes as well as efficient and durable low-cost electrodes. It will reach twice the performance of the state of the art of AEMWE operating with pure water feedstock only. The targeted performance of the NEWELY prototype will be validated in a 2,000 hours endurance test. The new AEMWE stack will lead to a significant cost reduction of water electrolysis having a relevant impact in the cost of green hydrogen.

The Smart4RES project aims to bring substantial performance improvements to the whole model and value chain in renewable energy (RES) forecasting, with particular emphasis placed on optimizing synergies with storage and to support power system operation and participation in electricity markets. For that, it concentrates on a number of disruptive proposals to support ambitious objectives for the future of renewable energy forecasting. This is thought of in a context with steady increase in the quantity of data being collected and computational capabilities. And, this comes in combination with recent advances in data science and approaches to meteorological forecasting. Smart4RES concentrates on novel developments towards very high-resolution and dedicated weather forecasting solutions. It makes optimal use of varied and distributed sources of data e.g. remote sensing (sky imagers, satellites, etc), power and meteorological measurements, as well as high-resolution weather forecasts, to yield high-quality and seamless approaches to renewable energy forecasting. The project accommodates the fact that all these sources of data are distributed geographically and in terms of ownership, with current restrictions preventing sharing. Novel alternative approaches are to be developed and evaluated to reach optimal forecast accuracy in that context, including distributed and privacy-preserving learning and forecasting methods, as well as the advent of platform-enabled data-markets, with associated pricing strategies. Smart4RES places a strong emphasis on maximizing the value from the use of forecasts in applications through advanced decision making and optimization approaches. This also goes through approaches to streamline the definition of new forecasting products balancing the complexity of forecast information and the need of forecast users. Focus is on developing models for applications involving storage, the provision of ancillary services, as well as market participation.