Introduction
At the last HyER Assembly it became clear that regional hydrogen and fuel cell development would enter what could become the most decisive decade in this technology’s history. Fuel cell vehicles roll-out dates and infrastructure plans were publicly announced and Brussels is humming with new ideas by new Commissioners and new Directorates (DG MOVE and Climate Action). HyER has actively followed up the contacts with the main EU programmes and dossiers that were presented at the General Assembly and that will become of crucial importance to the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell applications in Europe.
Meetings were conducted with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to explore the use of EIB investment opportunities through the new Elena programme, announced at the HyER General Assemby. Regular updates have been provided to the EU Directorate for Research and (former) Energy and Transport.
The EU Spanish Presidency’s EU Electric Car Plan brought several hydrogen and fuel cell organisation together, including HyER, the European Hydrogen Association (EHA), the NEW IG and Fuel Cell Europe in a joint letter to EU Member States to ask for more attention on the role of fuel cell electric vehicles in electric transport. In addition HyER co-organised a seminar on March 23, with the EHA and the West Midlands in Europe office, with high level speakers of EU institutions, on the development of an electric transport system infrastructure.
In short HyER hit the ground running the beginning of 2010; the preparations for active hydrogen infrastructure support, as well as HyER’s contribution to the dissemination of JTI demonstration projects will continue to put HyER on the map as the reference point for concrete regional and local hydrogen and fuel cell development in Europe. This newsletter includes an Educational section “HYFED6″ at the end that refers to several interesting programmes and initiatives. This section is part of HyER efforts to include hydrogen and fuel cell topics into European schools. Please contact our secretariat for more information on how to become actively involved in our activities: secretariat@hy-ramp.eu.
