Switzerland: Stadler Rail delivers hydrogen trains to California + + + Ludwigshafen: RNV relies on hydrogen buses + + + Norway: Teco develops maritime FC system + + + Munich: Pilot project for hydrogen supply to households + + + Norway: Enova promotes H2 trucks and gas stations + + + Netherlands: Starting signal for national hydrogen network + + + Norway / USA: Hyster announces construction of GW electrolyzer factories + + + Poland: Ballard Power supplies 177 fuel cell systems to Solaris + + + Events + + + DISCOUNT promotion: Your ADVERTISING on the PtX portal
A selection of PtX topics summarized at the end of the week
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The Swiss railway manufacturer Stadler delivers hydrogen trains to California (graphical representation). © Caltrans
The Swiss Stadler Rail AG has signed an agreement to supply four hydrogen-powered Flirt H2 (“Fast Light Intercity and Regional Train”) trains with the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). An additional 25 trains could be purchased as an option, the company said. The hydrogen train was extensively tested by Stadler in both Switzerland and the USA. In the USA, “very few railway lines are electrified, which is why solutions like the Flirt H2 are so important here,” says Ansgar Brockmeyer, EVP of Marketing and Sales. According to Caltrans, the contract is worth 80 million dollars (75,7 million euros).
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E-Mobility is building filling stations for the “Mercedes-Benz eCitaro Range Extender” hydrogen buses for RNV. © Daimler Buses GmbH
The Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV) is increasingly relying on hydrogen buses for local public transport. In the long term, these are intended to replace the regular diesel buses in Ludwigshafen and supplement the existing fleet of electric buses. In October 2022, as reported, RNV ordered 2 “Mercedes-Benz eCitaro Range Extender” fuel cell buses as part of the “H40Rhein-Neckar” project, and eight more are going to Ludwigshafen. For refueling purposes, the operator H2-Mobility is now building a hydrogen filling station near the RNV depot in Rheingönheim (Ludwigshafen). This is also available to private and commercial users, explains RNV. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2024 and commissioning is planned for early 2025. Initial work on a station has also begun in Mannheim, and construction of the facility there is already well advanced in Heidelberg. The Rheingönheim hydrogen filling station is one of “the central components of the H2Rivers project in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region,” says Doris Wittneben, Head of Future Fields and Innovation at Metropolregion-Rhein-Neckar GmbH, the consortium leader for the H2Rivers project.
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The “FCM400” fuel cell system from Teco 2030 is currently undergoing a test program. © Teco 2030
The Norwegian manufacturer of fuel cell systems Teco 2030 ASA, together with the drive developer AVL List GmbH based in Graz, Austria, has developed a 400 kilowatt module for ships and other heavy-duty applications. The system, called “FCM400,” has a dynamic load and can respond quickly to changes in energy demand, which is important for mobility and network applications. It is scalable in power steps of 400 kilowatts and can be used in applications with power sources in the multi-megawatt range. The product was announced in February and will be produced in the Teco innovation center in Narvik, Norway. Production will start “in the next few months”.
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Commissioning of the hydrogen feed for the “H2Direkt” project in Bavaria. © StMWi / E. Neureuther
The local suppliers Energie Südbayern (ESB), Energienetze Bayern and Thüga want to show that existing gas networks can be operated with pure hydrogen. In Hohenwart (Pfaffenhofen ad Ilm district), ten customers will be fully supplied with the energy source via a partially repurposed local network from the 2023/2024 heating season. The green hydrogen is delivered in trailers by truck. There is a trailer station with pressure reduction and the feed system on site. From there the hydrogen reaches the customers. The boilers in the houses are being replaced with H2 condensing boilers from Vaillant. All components installed in the distribution network area and in the boiler rooms have been thoroughly checked and do not need to be replaced. The project called “H2Direkt” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the hydrogen lead project TransHyDE.
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ASKO Midt-Norge is currently the only operator with hydrogen trucks on Norway's roads. © ASKO Midt-Norge
The Norwegian state-owned company Enova SF is providing 9,8 million crowns (0,85 million euros) to finance ten hydrogen vehicles and 25 million crowns (2,17 million euros) for three hydrogen filling stations. “We have already come a long way in the electrification of cars. Now we have to rethink and reduce emissions from heavy vehicles,” says Espen Barth Eide, Minister for Climate and Environment. All funding commitments for vehicles go to the logistics company SR Group, headquartered in Rogaland. The SR Group plans to procure another twelve to fifteen larger vehicles for traffic between Stavanger and Oslo. The supported gas stations include the operator Vireon's stations in Dombås, Stavanger and Vestby. There are currently two truck filling stations in Norway, one from ASKO in Trondheim and one from Vireon in Hellesylt. ASKO Midt-Norge is currently the only operator of hydrogen trucks in the country. The company has four vehicles and two will be delivered soon, it is said. ASKO is also planning to purchase another 2025 hydrogen trucks in 2026 and 14.
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On October 27th, King Willem-Alexander gives the starting signal for the construction of the first part of the national hydrogen network. © RVD / Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk.
On October 27th, the Dutch King Willem-Alexander gave the starting signal for the construction of the first part of the national hydrogen network on the Tweede Maasvlakte in Rotterdam. From 2030, the network is intended to connect the large industrial clusters in the Netherlands with each other as well as with Germany and Belgium. It is operated by the Gasunie subsidiary HyNetwork Services built up. The first part covers a distance of more than 30 kilometers, runs in Rotterdam from the Tweede Maasvlakte to Pernis and is scheduled to go into operation in 2025. The national network will eventually be 1.200 kilometers long and consists largely of repurposed natural gas pipelines to connect large hydrogen production plants, import terminals in the seaports and companies in the Netherlands and abroad. “By becoming the first European country to build a hydrogen infrastructure, the Netherlands can become an important hub for renewable energy,” explained Gasunie.
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The Norwegian manufacturer of PEM electrolyzers Hystar AS announces a fully automated 4 gigawatt electrolyzer factory in Høvik, west of Oslo. Construction of the production facility with a capacity of four gigawatts will begin in early 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2025. Commissioning will take place by 2026. The company is also expanding to North America, where it plans to set a location in 2024 and build a multi-gigawatt factory by 2027. The company does not rule out investing in additional gigawatt factories before 2030.
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The Canadian manufacturer of fuel cells Ballard Power Systems from the Polish bus manufacturer Solaris Bus & Coach sp. z oo received orders to supply a total of 177 hydrogen fuel cell engines. Part of it will be handed over in 2023. Solaris plans to deliver 127 city buses to Bologna, Italy, with another 50 models going to customers in Germany and Italy. According to Ballard, the number of engines ordered by Solaris since the beginning of the year is now over 270, which represents a significant increase compared to the more than 140 fuel cell city buses that Solaris has so far used with customers in Europe.
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Photos
iStock / © Danil Melekhin
