Page 57 - European Energy Innovation - winter 2018 publication

Winter 2018 European Energy Innovation 57
Hydrogen technologies
in Slovenia: a question of
space and time
The production of hydrogen from excess
renewable energy (RE) is an important means
of energy storage, offering the opportunity to
balance energy supply during periods of low
RE availability - or whenever production is insufficient
to meet demand. This is why there is intense interest
among experts in Slovenia in the challenges currently
facing the development of fuel cell technologies and in
the opportunities they represent. It is clearly important
for the Slovenian economy to develop the necessary
knowledge and manufacturing capabilities to exploit this
opportunity, and long-term scenario analysis indicates a
period of relative economic stability, suggesting that there in the Diamond project, a Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint
is time (perhaps as much as ten years) to prepare for the
development of these emerging technologies.
Greenpeace Slovenia is enthusiastic about fuel cell
technologies, principally because of the cost of their
development compared to other RE technologies and
for the need to achieve security of energy supply during
the transition to low-carbon energy. Slovenia possesses
an important advantage according to the Secretary of
State in the Ministry of Environment: as a small country,
its infrastructure is less susceptible to rapid changes in
the energy sector that may arise during the somewhat
longer period of implementation of strategies. However,
knowledge of hydrogen technologies among the general
public appears to be low according to the Development
Centre for Hydrogen Technologies (RCVT), a partner in
the Hyacinth project, which used a Social Acceptance
Management Toolbox (SAMT) to analyze opinions of
different stakeholders regarding the social acceptability of applied to Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) technologies.
hydrogen technologies.
Two low-carbon technologies for generating heat
and electricity are receiving support towards
commercialization as potential replacements for fossil-
fuel based powertrains. These are: residential fuel cell
micro-Combined Heat and Power (FCmCHP) and hydrogen
fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV).
Ene.field (with RCVT as a consortium partner) has
recently undertaken the largest European demonstration
of FCmCHP, deploying up to 1,000 units in 11 key European
member states over a period of 5 years. Outputs of the
project include life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle
cost (LCC) analyses, market analysis, commercialization
strategy, and policy recommendations. In particular, it
was learned that current national administrative barriers
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are preventing access to existing support schemes and
funding, possibly through lack of political recognition of
the benefits of FCmCHP technology. Policy development
should therefore closely follow and complement the
industry’s commitment to FCmCHP cost reduction and
performance improvements.
INEA is RCVT’s industry partner and is a leading Slovenian
company in the field of energy management and smart
grid solutions, industrial automation, process control
and manufacturing informatics. INEA has been involved
Undertaking (FCH JU); meanwhile our participation
in the Grasshopper and MAMA MEA projects under
the umbrella of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen 2 Joint
Undertaking (FCH 2JU) researches a cost effective
modular Megawatt-sized Proton Exchange Membrane
(PEM) fuel cell power plant.
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Ljubljana, is RCTV’s Centre of Knowledge partner. The
faculty has been involved in the field of hydrogen
technologies since 2007, participating in several national
projects (hydrogen production technologies in Slovenia;
and Slovenia’s transition to a hydrogen economy)
and international projects (including FluMaBack,
HyTechCycling, SustainHuts). Of these, HyTechCycling,
which will be completed in 2019, aims to deliver reference
documentation and studies about existing and new
recycling and dismantling technologies, and strategies
SustainHuts (Sustainable mountain huts in Europe) is
Life+ demo project that aims to reduce CO2 emissions
in the environments within in huts by implementing
novel and original renewable energy-based solutions.
They are also the leading Slovenian institution for Life
Cycle Assessment methodology, a tool for assessing
environmental impacts of technologies, products and
processes. l
For further information please contact:
Tadej Auer M.Sc.
Director
Email: info@rcvt.si
Tel: +386 51 649314
Web: www.rcvt.si/eu