Best Practice

Cellcentric has appointed Kai Wörner as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Managing Director. The experienced production expert is to further advance the industrialization of fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles.

Manufacturer Horizon Fuel Cell achieved a new production record for fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles in November. The company plans to further increase deliveries and is increasingly focusing on the market for AI data centers.

Delo and Datron have developed a system solution for the automated sealing of fuel cells. Combining a UV-curing liquid sealant with high-speed dispensing, the solution is designed to accelerate series production of stacks.

The Swiss company Infener wants to promote hydrogen throughout Europe. Decentralized H₂ hubs will be used to generate green electricity as well as green heat. The Ecore One is a compact containerized solution that combines various energy technologies in one unit: electrolyzer, fuel cell and battery as well as compressor and a heat pump with its own energy management system or EMS. H₂ production is due to start 2027 at a site in the Black Forest, Germany. However, the needs of regional industry are already far greater today.

The company HPS Home Power Solutions has unveiled a new generation of its seasonal energy storage system. The Picea 2 now uses lithium batteries, which makes installation in the home easier due to the lower weight. With twice the power, the appliance is also equipped for e-mobility and heat pumps.

The municipality of Bosbüll in North Frisia is expanding its district heating network. In the future, process heat from local hydrogen production will also be fed into the system. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2025.

Green hydrogen is an important building block of the energy transition. With its help, regenerative energy can be stored and used as needed in a wide variety of sectors. But how will the generation, storage, distribution and use of hydrogen come together? An answer to this question is the goal of the project H₂VL of the regional district (Landkreis) Havelland: Various local players along the entire hydrogen value chain are being identified, networked and supported in the implementation of their projects – from production through distribution to use. For this, Havelland is being supported by the German transport ministry, through the hydrogen and fuel cell innovation support program NIP2, with nearly 400,000 euros as one of the 15 winners of the title HyExpert Region.

The production of green hydrogen is reliant upon electrolyzers being fed solar- and wind-generated electricity. Since these energy sources are fluctuating, and therefore not always available, a different approach and control mechanism is required compared with conventional power plants. At the RefLau model power plant in the area of Lusatia, work is underway as part of a grant project to analyze, initially on a small scale, how Germany’s energy supply could be controlled in the future.

Delta, MODEC and Eld Energy plan to pilot a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system on a floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) by 2027. According to the companies, this would mark the first offshore deployment of SOFC technology—with potential land-based applications to follow.

Abo Energy and Hydropulse, a subsidiary of ITM Power, have entered into a strategic partnership. The aim is to establish decentralized hydrogen production plants in Europe – particularly in Spain and Finland.

Together with Air Liquide, Limak Cement Group has successfully tested the first hydrogen-blended fuel supply for cement production in Ankara, Turkey. H2-international conducted an interview with Erkam Kocakerim, CEO of Limak Cement Global.

In emerging and developing countries, but also in crisis areas, there are many opportunities to use hydrogen to overcome energy poverty and establish a reliable, CO₂-neutral power supply. In this context, hydrogen-based microgrids have a decisive role to play. In this form, hydrogen-producing electrolyzers, cylinder racks for hydrogen storage and fuel cell systems for reconversion into electricity can be accommodated in the space of a shipping container. Together, they help to conserve renewable energy for later use.

An important but often neglected area of application for H₂ technology is the uninterrupted supply of power. To prevent flickering lights and even more so blackouts, so-termed UPS (uninterruptible power supply) systems are indispensable. In the best-case scenario, when the network is stable, they will not be used, but their presence is nevertheless of central importance. H2-international spoke about this to Benedikt Eska and Christian Leu, the managing directors of Axiosus Energy GmbH, as well as about the company itself and the technology platform Clean Power Net (CPN).