Nordhausen: Maximator Hydrogen is to install 24 hydrogen filling stations in Sweden + + + USA: Heliogen produces hydrogen for Lancaster + + + Austria: Vienna orders ten hydrogen buses + + + USA: WRC satisfied with test addition of hydrogen in power plant + + + Düren: Hydrogen filling station in operation + + + Italy: Solaris delivers hydrogen buses to Venice + + + Berlin: Meta-study on cost drivers for PEM fuel cell stacks + + + DISCOUNT promotion: Your ADVERTISING on the PtX portal
A selection of PtX topics summarized at the end of the week
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© Maximator Hydrogen GmbH
The Maximator Hydrogen GmbH has received an order from REH2 to deliver 24 hydrogen filling stations to Sweden. According to the company, the aim is “the strategic expansion of a national green infrastructure for heavy trucks”. Delivery of the first gas station is planned for autumn 2023, with the other 23 gas stations following on a monthly basis from 2024. Rasta, Sweden's largest truck stop chain, will build 23 of the 24 hydrogen filling stations at locations along major Swedish highways. REH2 is a subsidiary of the Swedish investment company Qarlbo AB and is responsible for the production and delivery of green hydrogen to the operators of the filling stations. Renewable energies, primarily from wind power and hydropower, served as the basis for production. REH2 is intended to “create a scalable platform for the rapid expansion of hydrogen-based infrastructure.”
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Heliogen has been operating its demonstration plant in Lancaster since 2019. © Heliogen Inc.
The Heliogen, Inc. is intended to produce green hydrogen for the Californian city of Lancaster. According to the information, the company acts as a technology provider, project developer, construction contractor, operator and equity partner. Once completed, the plant could produce up to 1.500 tons of hydrogen per year. Heliogen plans to attract additional investors for the project. The city of Lancaster will help, among other things, with the location search and the approval process. Heliogen is active in the concentrated solar power (CSP) business and uses systems to convert sunlight into steam, heat, electricity and green hydrogen as fuel. Heliogen had already set up its first test facility in the city in 2019 and recently completed the installation of fourth-generation heliostats in the demonstration facility. In August Heliogen had its collaboration with Dimensional Energy announced to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Lancaster.
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Urbino 12 Hydrogen. © Solaris
The Wiener Stadtwerke GmbH will buy ten hydrogen and 2025 electric buses through its subsidiary Wiener Linien by 60. The contracts were awarded following a tender to Solaris Austria for the delivery of the “Urbino Hydrogen” type and Evo Bus Austria for the “eCitaro” type. Both are twelve meters long. According to its own information, the company is investing a total of 90 million euros. Of this, 48 million euros are budgeted for the purchase and construction of fast charging stations, of which the Ministry of Climate Protection will receive funding of 22 million euros. Wiener Linien is investing a further 40 million euros to build an e-competence center with a photovoltaic system and an e-bus garage for 50 vehicles as well as the associated infrastructure for charging, maintenance and service. The hydrogen buses are refueled and maintained in a separate H2 competence center. Wien Energie and Wiener Netze have built an H2 filling station that is also used by external customers. Wiener Linien sources 100 percent of its electricity and hydrogen from renewable energy sources. The 70 electric and H2 buses would cover more than 13 million kilometers during the first five years of operation, saving around 12.000 tons of CO2. Test drives have shown that battery buses are “particularly suitable for flatter areas with appropriate charging options, while H2 buses can also be used on demanding routes with gradients.”
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© WEC Energy Group
The US energy supplier WEC Energy Group and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) say they have theirs Co-firing tests of hydrogen in a natural gas power plant “successfully completed”. During the two-week test period in mid-October, hydrogen and natural gas were tested in blends of up to 25/75 percent by volume to power a piston engine generator that supplies customers of WEC subsidiary Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp. The tests were carried out on an 18 megawatt block. The plant in northern Michigan uses RICE (reciprocating internal combustion engine) technology. WEC Energy Group and EPRI worked with numerous industrial companies on this project, including Wärtsilä, Burns and McDonnell, Certarus and Cleveland-Cliffs. A complete analysis should be available in early 2023.
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District Administrator Wolfgang Spelthahn and Anne Schüssler, Head of District Development and Mobility, at the gas station in Düren. © H2 Mobility Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
The gas station operator H2 Mobility Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, Shell and Air Liquide have started optimization operations at a new tank facility in Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia. Both buses and trucks can be filled there at 350 bar and cars at 700 bar. The filling station technology comes from the industrial gas and technology company Air Liquide. The station holds over 600 kilograms of hydrogen. Customers include Rurtalbus GmbH, whose fleet is to be gradually converted to fuel cell vehicles over the next few years; currently there are five. Hydrogen cars have a range of up to 700 kilometers and refuel in three to five minutes; buses need around 15 minutes for a range of 300 kilometers. There are currently 19 hydrogen filling stations in North Rhine-Westphalia. Almost 100 public hydrogen filling stations with 700 bar for cars and small commercial vehicles are in operation nationwide. In some cases, refueling at 350 bar is also possible for buses and trucks.
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Venice gets from the Polish vehicle manufacturer Solaris Bus & Coach sp. z oo four “Urbino 12 Hydrogen” hydrogen buses. According to the information, the contracts with a total value of more than 2,5 million euros were concluded with the transport companies AVM Venezia and ACTV SPA Venezia. Delivery is scheduled for mid-2023. The low-floor 12-meter bus has an output of 70 kilowatts and a range of 350 kilometers on one tank of fuel. The hydrogen tanks are on the roof. In 2020, Solaris already had 30 "“Urbino 12 Electric” including charging infrastructure delivered to Venice.
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NOW GmbH, with the participation of VDMA AG Fuel Cells, has published a study on the value creation potential and cost structures of fuel cells. In-depth background presentations (“Deep Dives”) have now been provided. In the first two deep dives, the 7-layer membrane electrode unit (MEA, 43 pages) and the bipolar plate (BPP, 25 pages) “the biggest cost drivers of the PEM fuel cell stack” are discussed. Bipolar plates consist of an anode and a cathode plate, which are joined together so tightly that neither coolant nor process gases (hydrogen and oxygen) escape. The investigations focus in particular on component function, material selection, manufacturing processes, value chain and component costs. The presentations are available as PDFs free of charge.
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Photos
iStock / © Danil Melekhin
