HyER, in preparing its Annual General Meeting “HyER’s 5 Highlights” on 24- 26 June 2013  in Brussels, has been actively promoting the HyER activities in monitoring and collecting key results, developing effective policy frameworks and supporting robust local deployment channels in important recent policy and stakeholder meetings in Brussels.  1. On 26 April, HyER was invited to attend an important Commission policy meeting “Hydrogen in the economy", in which Commission’s Director General Philip Lowe stressed the role of hydrogen. Many attendees also stressed the role of local authorities in deciding the right clean transport and energy system solutions for their communities. 2. HyER also attended the first exchanges in the EU Parliament on the Clean Power for Transport dossier in the first week of May in which MEP expressed the need for more insight in new alternative vehicle, i.e. BEV and FCEV performance on the streets of Europe, a further indication of the importance of the output of the European Electro-mobility Observatory EEO that HyER is coordinating. [...]

This year, Hydrogen, fuel cells and Electro-mobility in European Regions, HyER, will be marking its 5th anniversary together with its member regions and cities across Europe with an annual public event on 25-26 June 2013 during the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), in Brussels. European  regions and cities will exchange views with industry stakeholders and regional and EU decision-makers on the role of the EEO instrument in achieving Europe’s ambition for clean transport. The event will be receded by a Stakeholders’ Forum on the EU co-funded Green Motion and the FR-EVUE projects on 24-25 June 2013. For more  information, please contact the HyER Secretariat at +32 (02) 223 28 11.

Following the European Commission’s communication on Clean Power for Transport, as released last month to ensure harmonised build-up of infrastructure for alternative fuels (including hydrogen and electricity) across Europe and its reference to the European Electromobility Observatory (EEO) , funded by the EU that HyER is coordinating, HyER intensifies its focus on its three main activity areas:

1. Monitoring of latest developments: i.e. the first EEO workshop on January 21, kick off of the HyTransit fuel cell bus project in Aberdeen,  the integration of 5 hybrid High V.LO-City buses into Flanders's fleet and the participation of the CHIC fuel cell bus in Davos last week.

2. Supporting the development of an effective EU support framework

3. Assisting its members to develop robust deployment channels: see the kick off of the of the ene.field stationary fuel cell project (20 February) in Berlin. 

To find out more on the activities of the EEO and HyER members' activities across Europe, please join us at the Hanover Fair' Metropolitan Solutions area (Hall 1, Stand F01), April 8 -11, 2013. Furthermore, this year HyER will be celebrating its 5 years since  its establishment in 2008. To mark its commitment on promoting clean solutions in cities and regions across Europe, HyER will be holding its Annual General Assembly event on 24-26 June 2013 in Brussels. Please mark this event in your calendar to find out more on exciting projects and meet the main stakeholder in regional transport and energy solutions. The detailed agenda and invitations will be available shortly.

HyER is starting 2013 with the first workshop on the European Electro-mobility Observatory (EEO) on 24 January 2013.

The 2012 Annual Call for Proposal of the EU Trans European Network for Transport was launched on 28 November 2012 with a deadline on February 28, 2012. The budget for this Call is €250 million under four specific priorities.

H2moves Scandinavia is a Joint Technology  Initiative  (FCH JU) on Hydrogen & Fuel Cells which is funded by the European Commission and the European Industry.  The project objective is to gain customer acceptance for the FCEV and hydrogen infrastructure and prepare for the mass market roll-out initiating in 2014 – 2015. This 3-year project has been ongoing since the start in 2010 and comes to it’s end in December 2012.

The final Conference will take place on 30 November 2012, in Brussels.

The ambition of the conference is to share the experiences, report the project outcome and communicate the strategic lessons learnt from Scandinavia to the EU Commission and to other regions who are interested and are planning own demonstration activities in the future. 

As HyER is getting ready to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) next week, we would like to invite you to a public conference on 16 October. Under the theme "Ready...Set..Go! HyER's move from EU projects to programmes" the conference aims to engage the organisation, in close cooperation with its members, in translating project results into long-term and large-scale deployment programmes. Local authorities and industry representatives will present their ambitions for the use of the technology and their expectations from the EU Institutions to assist them in accelerating the integration of hydrogen fuel cells and electro-mobility applications in local energy and transport solutions in Europe. With HyER having increased its involvement in successful EU projects, European Commission’s DG MOVE Director-General Matthias Ruete and other key EU officials have confirmed their participation to this high-level event. HyER is looking forward to welcome you at this event. Registration (email: secretariat@hyer.eu) is open until 12 October.

Battery manufacturer Better Place announced yesterday the inauguration of a battery swapping station at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The project consortium, “Greening European Transportation Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles,” is co-financed by the European Union’s TEN-T program. The Battery Switch Station was built in partnership with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and will initially serve 10 Renault Fluence Z.E. taxis operated by three leading Dutch taxi companies – Connexxion, Bios and TCA.

HyER ‘s  TEN T proposal for a H2 corridor study and pilot, that HyER prepared with the Dutch government, with the support of the French, German, Swedish and Danish governments, has been approved by the EU Member States today. HyER is participating as an applicant in this proposal to support three of the five main activities of the proposal: 1.  Collection of the preparatory activities and experiences with regards to corridor development of the five national hydrogen infrastructure initiatives APHYPAC, Hydrogen Sweden, Danish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Platform, Dutch Hydrogen Strategy Plan and NOW with a link to the UK H2Mobility activities through the London Hydrogen Partnership. 2. Development of a Synchronised Implementation Plan based on the input of the national initiatives for policymakers and infrastructure managers along a more than 1.100 km corridor from Sweden, via Denmark and Germany to the Netherlands with links to France and the UK;

HyER,  the European Association for Hydrogen and fuel cells and Electro-mobility in European Regions (formerly HyRaMP), was established in collaboration with the EU Commisision on April 14, 2008.  HyER seeks to foster the deployment and uptake of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and electro-mobility in Europe, to contribute positively to carbon dioxide emissions reduction, environment protection as well as economic growth  and job creation.  HyER is representing over 30 regions and cities in Europe. Through the active monitoring and collecting of current project results and industrial developments and as partner in several EU projects for dissemination and communication, HyER seeks to develop fact-based policy at EU, national and local level to establish robust local deployment channels and a first customer base. 

A new EU energy initiative which will provide access to sustainable energy for an additional 500 million people in developing countries by 2030 was today announced by European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso. Speaking at the EU Sustainable Energy for All Summit in Brussels, the President unveiled this EU commitment in the framework of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4All) launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last year. 

The Commission adopted on October 19, 2011 a proposal to transform the existing patchwork of European roads, railways, airports and canals into a unified transport network (TEN-T). The new core network will remove bottlenecks, upgrade infrastructure and streamline cross border transport operations for passengers and businesses throughout the EU. It will improve connections between different modes of transport and contribute to the EU’s climate change objectives. The new policy follows a two-year consultation process and establishes a core transport network to be established by 2030 to act as the backbone for transportation within the Single Market. The financing proposals published today (for the period 2014–2020) also tightly focus EU transport funding on this core transport network, filling in cross-border missing links, removing bottlenecks and making the network smarter. The new core TEN-T network will be supported by a comprehensive network of routes, feeding into the core network at regional and national level. This will largely be financed by Member States, with some EU transport and regional funding possibilities, including with new innovative financing instruments. The aim is to ensure that progressively, and by 2050, the great majority of Europe’s citizens and businesses will be no more than 30 minutes’ travel time from this comprehensive network.

Following the success of the previous editions of the International Workshop on Hydrogen 1-3 (2005, 2007 and 2009) the Micro Electro Thermal Systems (METS) Research Unit in the National Engineering School of Sfax (University of Sfax) will host in Tunisia the Fourth International Workshop on Hydrogen (IWH-2012). This edition will be held in Sousse, Tunisia, from 21st to 23rd of March 2012. Deadline for submission of manuscript: November 21th, 2011 For more information see: IWH2012

The Annual Hydrogen Workshop will be collaboratively held in cooperation with Pirkanmaa, Äetsä Hydrogen village project (Prizztech Oy) and Tekes national Fuel Cell Finland programme. Taking place in Hanasaari, Helsinki, Finland on Tue September 13 2011, the event aims to attract decision makers in the energy sector, end-users and the general public interested in new energy options, companies & research organizations interested in fuel cells.

The European Commission on March 28, 2011 presented its new White Paper “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system” (COM2011/144) adopted a roadmap of 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment. The EU also announced its ambition to half the number of conventional fuelled vehicles in cities by 2030 and to reduce Europe’s dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050. The EU included a reference to its aim to organise the interface between long distance and last-mile freight transport more efficiently, indicating that “this could be performed with low emission urban trucks. The use of electric, hydrogen and hybrid technologies would not only reduce air emissions, but also noise, allowing a greater portion of freight transport within the urban areas to take place at night time.”

Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Electromobility in European Regions, HyER over the course of 2010 organised several workshops to engage with key industry and EU officials to identify the main issues regarding the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell applications and and infrastructure build up. As the commercial market for zero emission vehicles like battery and fuel cell vehicles ,  the role of local authorities to facilitate a sustainable recharging and refuelling infrastructure as well as to engage local SME’s to explore business opportunities is becoming increasingly important.  The European Commission is recognizing this role, as indicated in the Commission’s Communciation on Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles of last April, in which it expressed its intention to work with local authorities and Member States in the build-up of the charging and refuelling infrastructure. HyER is ready to take on this challenge and is contributing actively, together with its members, in the first demonstration projects of the Joint Undertaking for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen to facilitate the dissemination of results and best practice.  In addition HyER is exploring financing opportunities together with EU, regional and national institutions to allow alignment of budgets and strategic long term planning. HyER invites local authorities interested [...]

The LIFE+ ZERO-HYTECHPARK (LIFE08/ENV/E/000136) launches its website The ZERO-HYTECHPARK project has already an own website where find all the information about its objetives, actions, and latest news. At http://www.zerohytechpark.eu the users will know in detail how the project pretend to reach a zero emissions building using renewable energy and hydrogen technologies. The aim of the ZERO-HYTECHPARK project, part of the European LIFE+ programme on the environment, is to achieve more sustainable technology parks, a task for which it has a budget of 1.3 million euros, 50% of which is financed by the European Union for four years (from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013). The Foundation for the Development of New Hydrogen Technologies in Aragon coordinates this initiative with the participation of technology parks in Huesca, Andalusia and Vizcaya, which are project partners. ZERO-HYTECHPARK aims to put measures in place to achieve total sustainability in these areas via optimum energy management by means of systems based on hydrogen technologies and renewable energies. The Life+ Programme is the only European Union financial instrument exclusively dedicated to the environment for the 2007-2013 period, whose general objective is to contribute to the application, updating and development of European policy and legislation concerning the [...]

Palais de la découverte has a permanent exhibtion on Hydrogen and fuel cells, designed in partnership with research institutions and industry. The main object is to raise awareness of the necessary development of energy mix, in which hydrogen must find a place because it can be produced from all primary sources. http://www.palais-decouverte.fr/index.php?id=1721&no_cache=1&sword_list[0]=hydrog%C3%A8ne

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking is organizing a public information session following the publications of its 2011 Call for proposals on May 12. The information session will take place at Place Madou 1, Tour Madou, Auditorium, Ground floor at 14:30-17:00 (CET) in Brussels. Participants should Register prior to May 4 2011 by sending your name, date of birth, and passport number to: fch-ju@fch.europa.eu