Photo: Areva H2Gen

In its new environment, the container is unlikely to attract attention. Because pipes, valves and pressure vessels abound in the Höchst industrial park near Frankfurt. There, various companies use hydrogen for their production and chemical processes, and this is where the latest Areva H2Gen product will find its first place. With its contribution to the “MethQuest” research project, the company shows in which direction the development of large-scale PEM electrolysis can go. The specific device has an output of slightly more than one megawatt. The novelty is the overcapacity in the same amount.

According to the optimistic cost estimate by project manager Lucas Busemeyer, the technology already comes at a hydrogen cost of 3.60 per kilogram, including electricity costs of 5 cents per kilowatt hour. This would place them where decentralized electrolysis will only take in the next five to ten years. However, only with almost full utilization of the device with 8000 hours a year over 20 years. It must therefore be operated with mains electricity.

But since hydrogen from steam reformation is often even cheaper, Areva wants to make its unit fit for marketing on the balancing energy market (FCR) and to cross-finance it with its revenues. In addition, the device then contributes to the integration of renewable energies.

The challenge for this is that the electrolyzer can run at times with twice the output of 2 megawatts, at times with only 250 kilowatts, without damaging it or aging faster. The adaptations of the technology to this highly dynamic driving style are deliberately kept to a minimum, explains Busemeyer. The overcapacity should only increase the investment costs by 20 percent. He expects this premium to pay for itself within three to five years and hopes that the novelty will lower the hydrogen price to around EUR 3.45 per kilogram.

Comments from the judges

Xavier Daval : “The solution can deliver balancing energy and contribute to grid stabilization. Once the energy is converted to hydrogen, it can be used for various applications such as mobility or industry. ”

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com)

German coach company planning start-up Flixbus will test hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on long-distance routes.

Flixbus may soon be operating European-made hydrogen fuel cell coaches across the continent.
Image: Janusz Jakubowski/Flickr

From pv magazine Spain.

Germany’s FlixMobility, parent company of coach firm FlixBus, is working with electromobility business Freudenberg Sealing Technologies to test hydrogen fuel cell buses on long-distance journeys.

Flixbus said it has already begun talks with bus manufacturers about the introduction of hydrogen models.

“After being the first to successfully launch three fully electric buses, we now want to develop the first long-distance buses powered by fuel cells, along with Freudenberg technology, to mark another milestone in the history of mobility,” said André Schwämmlein, founder and CEO of FlixMobility.

The first e-buses in France and Germany were produced by Chinese manufacturers BYD and Yutong for FlixBus. The company claims fuel cell transport offers European bus makers a chance to participate in the future of sustainable mobility.

Flixmobility said fuel cell vehicles must have a range of at least 500km and refueling should take a maximum of 20 minutes. The performance characteristics of fuel cell buses, such as power and acceleration, must also align with current long-distance bus standards, said the travel company.

Pilot fleet

Claus Möhlenkamp, ​​CEO of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies said: “A hybrid system that properly combines the battery and fuel cells is especially practical for heavy vehicles that cover long distances since purely electric vehicles still do not have the ability to cover long distances. In the first phase of the FlixBus fuel cell project, a representative bus fleet will be equipped with the technology as a pilot test.”

FlixBus – which owns no buses or drivers – offers permitting, network planning, marketing, pricing, quality management and customer services to regional bus companies, which supply coaches and drivers and day to day management of routes. The company was created in Munich in 2011 by three entrepreneurs who wanted to offer sustainable, comfortable and affordable travel. At the same time, MeinFernbus started in Berlin, with its green buses circulating throughout Germany.

The bus market was opened up to competition in Germany in 2013 and the rival startups merged two years later with Flixbus becoming the leader in the German market. In 2015, FlixBus began its international expansion with long-distance networks in France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Croatia and cross-border routes to Scandinavia, Spain, England and Eastern Europe.

By Pilar Sánchez Molina

Originally published on https://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2019/11/12/european-carrier-plans-hydrogen-buses-for-long-distance-routes/