The European Hydrogen Association (EHA) and the European Regions and Municipalities Partnership for hydrogen and fuel cells (HyRaMP) have called for accelerated support from the EU, national and local governments to ensure a sustainable build-up of hydrogen infrastructure in Europe.

Both organizations stress the need to integrate hydrogen infrastructure development into the EU’s current energy and transport infrastructure plans.

The European Hydrogen Association represents 19 national associations and the main hydrogen infrastructure companies. HyRaMP unites 30 regions across 13 countries to play a key role in implementing strategies for the uptake of fuel cell and hydrogen (FCH) technologies in Europe, in particular within the European Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen.

HyRaMP, in collaboration with EHA industry members, organized its Third Hydrogen Infrastructure Workshop in Brussels on Wednesday, to inform key decision makers on the technical, regulatory, and financial aspects of large-scale hydrogen production, distribution, and storage.

The Workshop aimed to bring a more coherent approach to hydrogen infrastructure build-up at EU, national and local level, taking into account the different responsibilities and jurisdictions.

Hydrogen will play an important role as an energy carrier in the decarbonization of Europe’s energy and transport systems, as it can store large quantities of energy produced by intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar, to make electricity grids smarter and more efficient.

The build-up of the necessary hydrogen infrastructure to refuel the early fleets of hundreds of thousands of fuel cell vehicles by 2015, as announced by nine of the world’s leading car manufacturers last year, will need the rapid and efficient deployment of local primary energy sources, including renewable energy.

renewableenergyfocus.com