The power of hydrogen: Europe’s innovation winners
Date
22 Nov 2018
Sections
Innovation & Enterprise
Hydrogen fuel cell technology is ready and set to power Europe’s sustainable development, it was revealed this evening at a high-profile Awards Ceremony in Brussels, as the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) rewarded its top projects for innovation excellence.
The 2018 Awards Ceremony is the first of the FCH JU, a public-private partnership which since 2008 has boosted industry and SME collaboration, driving research, development, deployment and market introduction of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies.
Bart Biebuyck, FCH JU Executive Director said: “It’s an exciting time to be at the helm of such a dynamic group of innovators. The technology has come on leaps and bounds. Europe is now ready and set to mainstream hydrogen and has a strong leadership position. We need to maintain that by accelerating research, scaling up and, at the same time, developing our supply chain in Europe.”
“Tonight's winners demonstrate the added value of EU’s investment in cutting-edge, innovating, hydrogen technology!” said Signe Ratso, Deputy Director General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, who presented the Innovation Award.
Mirela Atanasiu, Head of the FCH-JU Operations and Communications Unit concluded: “The winners represent the best of hydrogen and fuel cell potential. In truth, all the success stories and top three nominees deserve this award. The level of achievement is outstanding.”
This year marks FCH JU’s 10th anniversary and the partnership’s successful journey as a catalyser of projects that have enabled Europe to take a leading role in fuel cell and hydrogen technology. The Awards ceremony comes just ahead of the FCH JU Stakeholder Forum, which will gather representatives of EU institutions, industry and research and other energy and climate stakeholders on 16th November in Brussels.
2018 FCH JU AWARDS WINNERS
3-D printing fuel cells to boost manufacturing
Awarded the FCH JU Innovation Prize, hydrogen fuel cell-powered 3-D printing is set to fasttrack product development, boosting quality, speed and customization across industries. The Cell3ditor project successfully applied the technology to develop ‘tabletop factories’. Albert Tarancón, of Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) said: “We proved that 3-D printing fuel cells can boost manufacturing of value-added products for the energy sector and enhance Europe’s competitiveness in the additives’ manufacturing revolution”.
Power to the people: hydrogen energy to households and small businesses
Hans Korteweg, Managing Director of COGEN Europe, received the FCH JU Success Story Award for strong results in two ground-breaking projects: ene.field and PACE. “Power to the people describes the very essence of our projects which demonstrate the value of hydrogen energy to households and businesses. Fuel Cell micro-Cogeneration transforms European energy consumers into active ‘prosumers’, creating a decentralised energy system with a reduced carbon footprint, improved local air quality and lower energy bills,” said Korteweg.
The project H2FUTURE, a European flagship project for the generation of green hydrogen from electricity from renewable energy sources was honoured with a Special Mention for communications excellence in raising the visibility of fuel cells and hydrogen technology for low-carbon manufacturing.
END
N. B.: This is a reissued press release. The press release was originally issued by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) on Thursday, 15th November 2018