Europe launches €940 million Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative

The European Commission has adopted two proposals that will mark a step forward in the development and marketing of clean and safe hydrogen vehicles in Europe. The first is the setting up of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative (JTI), an ambitious industry-led integrated programme of research, technology development and demonstration activities.

This Public-Private Partnership driven by European industry will be implemented over the next 6 years with a financial contribution from the EU of €470 million, to be matched by the private sector. The €940 million ($1.3 billion) JTI should accelerate the development of hydrogen technologies to the point of commercial take-off between 2010 and 2020.

Secondly, a number of hydrogen cars are already ripe for market introduction today. Thus, the Commission proposes to simplify their approval so that they will be seen more often on Europe's streets. Both proposals will now be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

The introduction of hydrogen vehicles has the potential to make Europe's air cleaner and reduce its dependency on fossil fuels. Setting common standards will support the introduction of these vehicles and ensure high safety for citizens. It will also boost the competitiveness of European manufacturers. - Günter Verheugen, Commission Vice-President, responsible for enterprise and industry

Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier. When used as fuel either in combustion motors or in fuel-cell systems, it does not produce any carbon emissions (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, unburned hydrocarbons or particulates). Thus, using hydrogen will contribute to the improvement of air quality in cities. Moreover, no greenhouse gases are produced from motor vehicles, although care will have to be taken that the production of hydrogen itself does not lead to an increase in CO2 emissions. This can be achieved by producing hydrogen from non-fossil energy sources or by CO2 sequestration. One of the many possible production pathways relies on renewable biomass as a primary energy source:
energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: air pollution :: energy security :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: hydrogen :: fuel cells :: EU ::

EU wide approval of hydrogen vehicles
At the moment, hydrogen vehicles are not included in the EU vehicle type-approval system. This results in complicated and costly approval procedures and hinders vehicles being placed on the market on a uniform basis throughout the EU. The Commission's proposal will introduce these vehicles into the type-approval framework. Furthermore, hydrogen has different characteristics from conventional fuels. The proposal will guarantee that all hydrogen vehicles put on the market in the EU are at least as safe as conventional vehicles.

Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative
The second proposal is to create a public/private partnership for research, a Joint Technology Initiative, to benefit the development of hydrogen and fuel cells. The JTI will receive €470 million from the EU's 7th Framework Programme, an amount that will be matched by the industrial partners.

Fuel cells are very efficient energy conversion devices. Fuel cells can be applied in a variety of products such as mobile phones and laptops, cars, buses, ships and planes, as well as stationary heat and power generators in the domestic and industrial sector. However, a number of technical and non-technical barriers must still be addressed before these technologies can become widely commercially available. They include, for example, cost and durability of fuel cells, sustainable production of hydrogen, and safe and efficient distribution and storage of hydrogen, particularly for mobile applications.

According to the Commission, the new research cooperation has a number of clear advantages:

• The JTI will contribute to reduced time to market for hydrogen and fuel cells technologies by between 2 and 5 years.
• There will be a quicker impact on improving energy efficiency, security of supply, pollution, and on improving potential for reducing greenhouse gases.
• A pre-defined budget of sufficient critical mass and a 6 year time horizon will raise confidence in public and private investors and allows industry to make long-term investment plans and manage its cash flows.
• Industry’s lead role, together with the European Commission, in defining priorities and timelines, in consultation with the research community, will ensure that full advantage is taken of the fundamental research capacities in universities and research centres and that RTD and demonstration efforts are integrated under common management.
• The JTI will create a stronger link between demonstration projects and fundamental and applied research projects, accelerating the pace of learning and moving faster along the experience curve.

The scope and deliverables of the project include:

• The JTI will implement basic research and industrial applied R&D, demonstration actions and supporting activities, based on the work already done by the European Technology Platform. Perhaps not adding much of useful info
• The intention with the JTI is to deliver robust hydrogen supply and fuel cell technologies developed to the point of commercial take-off. For the automotive sector, the aim is to achieve breakthroughs in bottleneck technologies and to enable industry to take the large-scale commercialisation decisions necessary to achieve mass market growth in the time-frame 2015-2020. For stationary fuel cells (domestic and commercial) and portable applications, the JTI will provide the technology base to initiate market growth from 2010-2015.

These two proposals adopted by the European Commission on fuel cells and hydrogen technologies are expected to offer long term solutions for sustainable energy and transport systems. These will benefit society by mitigating the adverse effects of climate change and toxic pollutants, and reducing dependency on diminishing oil and gas reserves.

References:
European Commission: The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative - October 10, 2007.

European Commission: Clean and safe cars: The Commission promotes hydrogen vehicles - October 10, 2007.

European Commission, Enterprise & Industry: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on type-approval of hydrogen powered motor vehicles and amending Directive 2007/46/EC [*.pdf] - October 10, 2007.