Technology

Green hydrogen is considered one of the key ingredients for meeting global climate targets. And it is also a possible alternative to gas, which makes the need to accelerate the hydrogen economy in Germany and Europe all the more urgent. However, establishing a hydrogen economy requires more than just innovative technologies for its production, transmission and utilization. It demands digital solutions to raise efficiency, forecast hydrogen demand and supply, monitor transmission and storage and ensure the safe use of hydrogen in a variety of applications. Yet there has so far been little or insufficient sharing of the data needed to perform these tasks among potential market participants. The primary reasons for this are a lack of trust and a fear of competitive disadvantage. The HyTrust project, funded by the German education and research ministry, now intends to tackle these challenges by creating a data trustee model in the hydrogen economy.

Plans to expand Germany’s hydrogen landscape are well underway. A large number of electrolyzers for green hydrogen production and thousands of kilometers of new or converted pipelines for hydrogen transmission will be built in the coming years. This offers us the opportunity to think holistically from the outset about the advancing trends of hydrogen and digitalization and to digitalize the hydrogen sector. This article intends to demonstrate the potential that can be leveraged through the digitalization of the entire green hydrogen value chain.

Thyssenkrupp Nucera and the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS inaugurated a pilot production facility for solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) stacks on May 27 in the German state of Thuringia. 

The developments in the electrolyzer sector are continuing in great strides. Particularly in costs, where most manufacturers have been able to achieve substantial price reductions in the recent months, even if this has not been reflected in a reduction of the final price in all cases. In addition, both stacks and whole systems are becoming increasingly more compact and efficient.

Cummins has opened a location in Europe. On March 3rd, 2022, the US engine manufacturer put its new fuel cell factory in Herten into operation. Cummins had taken over the Hydrogenics Corp. and with it the German branch Hydrogenics GmbH in the summer of 2019, which had been located in Gladbeck and is now in the HTVG (Gesellschaft für Technologieentwicklung und Vermögensverwaltung der Stadt Herten mbH) technology development center H2Herten.

With support from the German federal government and the Federal State of Lower Saxony, the Technical University (TU) of Braunschweig is establishing a new research center for circular production and recycling processes of batteries and fuel cells. Starting in 2027, around 150 researchers will work there on closed material cycles.

From August 21 to 27, 2025, the city of Chemnitz will become the center of an international hydrogen competition for young talents: At the world finals of the Hydrogen Grand Prix, more than 60 student teams from 23 countries will compete with self-developed H2 racing vehicles.

The Austrian mobility technology company AVL and the Japanese ceramics specialist Niterra have entered into a strategic partnership to develop solid oxide electrolyzers (SOECs). Their goal is to industrialize the technology.

Hydrogen producer Lhyfe has received RFNBO certification for four of its sites in Germany and France. According to the company, this makes Lhyfe the largest European producer of certified green hydrogen under the RED III standard.

The French geoscience company Mantle8 and the technology service provider Viridien have entered into a strategic partnership. The aim is to accelerate the exploration of natural hydrogen systems in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In the Federal State of Lower Saxony, the AGil project has being launched to develop new business models for municipal utilities. The goal is to convert surplus electricity from renewable sources into hydrogen locally, thereby strengthening decentralized energy supply.

A hydrogen generator powered by a Toyota fuel cell and a new battery storage system are intended to replace diesel generators on construction sites. French manufacturer EODev presented both solutions for the first time in Germany at the Bauma trade fair.

In the year 1999, Christian Machens developed the world's first fuel cell boat, the Hydra, and thereby laid the foundation for innovations that will extend far into the future. Now, 25 years later, he is once again setting standards in the technology landscape – this time with a world first that has the potential to fundamentally change the safety analysis of systems.

Extremely high demands are placed on tools for punching, stamping and forming sheet metals. In some cases, accuracies of between 1 µm and 2 µm are required during manufacturing. The level of challenge increases drastically the larger the tool and the thinner the sheet. The stamping plates for the sheet-metal parts in fuel cell bipolar plates are a prime example. Bipolar plates are thin structures made from welded sheet-metal half shells that enclose the filigree flow fields. They are built up one after another in many layers, with the membrane electrode assemblies sandwiched in between, to produce the final stack.