Upscaling hydrogen gensets in European cities
As we are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of air quality in our daily lives, we are looking at finding more effective solutions that can help us reduce air pollution in the cities, in line with the EU environmental policies, as the 2018 communication “Clean air for all”. EVERYWH2ERE is an FCH JU-funded project that aims to create transportable, zero-emission replacements for the diesel generators widely used for backup and temporary power.
Zero pollutant solution for power generation
Currently a large proportion of urban air pollutants come from transport, e.g. cars, buses, etc. However, other activities contribute significantly to it. This is the case of diesel generators (gensets) that are used in construction sites or to power-up temporary urban events such as concerts, festivals, etc. Fuel cells offer a zero pollutant solution for the generation of portable power. When using hydrogen, fuel cells do not produce any harmful emissions. In addition, they are a silent technology, which contributes to reducing noise pollution – another major issue for cities.
The FCH JU - funded project EVERYWH2ERE shows the benefits of the fuel cells equipped gensets by conducting an EU-wide demonstration campaign. Eight fuel cells “plug and play” – type gensets (4×25 kWe and 4×100 kWe) will be tested on construction sites, music festivals and urban events around Europe.The fuel cells powered gensets integrate robust PEMFC stacks and low weight, intrinsically safe pressurized hydrogen technologies, resulting easy to install, mobile gensets that are non-polluting.
Call to action: EVERYWH2ERE Cities Interest Group
To raise the interest of cities authorities to initiate the process of “Upscaling hydrogen gensets in European Cities” the EVERYWH2ERE project organised a Workshop on 15 January 2019 in Brussels. The workshop explained how hydrogen gensets could be a viable alternative to diesel generators and discussed the most suitable regulatory frameworks for deploying temporary hydrogen gensets in city areas. EU and local policy makers as well as industry representatives attended the workshop. They were invited to join the EVERYWH2ERE Cities Interest Group.
EVERYWH2ERE started early in 2018 and is expected to continue until early 2023.
To find more information about the project: www.everywh2ere.eu
To express an interest to become part of EVERYWH2ERE Cities Interest Group please contact arthur.hinsch@iclei.org

