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A Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure for Ireland
Declan Allen, DIT
Addressing global warming will require a broad portfolio of clean energy technologies. There is no doubt the hydrogen fuel cell will form part of the clean energy technologies portfolio required to address global warming. The European Union (EU) has set ambi- tious climate protection policy goals. Each member state must plan to reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. In the transport sector Greenhouse gas emissions will have to be cut by at least 60% by 2050 compared to their 1990 levels to achieve these targets.
The introduction of alternative zero-emission and propulsion tech- nologies will be of vital importance in implementing this strategy. The much anticipated and expected large-scale deployment of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) by a number of car manufactures is expected to play a major role in achieving the EU’s climate protec- tion policy goals; FCEVs are zero tail-pipe emission vehicles. The hydrogen they require as fuel can potentially be produced cleanly and sustainably, sourced from diverse renewable energy sources. Hydrogen fuel therefore has significant potential for achieving carbon-neutral vehicle technology along the whole hydrogen value chain.
The current lack of an adequate refuelling infrastructure is the only significant remaining obstacle to a successful roll-out of hydro-
gen powered fuel cell vehicles across the EU. Currently there are significant efforts on-going in several EU Member States, such as in Germany, the UK, Scandinavia, Netherlands, France, Italy, Norway and other countries, however, Ireland has yet to establish a working infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling.
Although Ireland has invested heavily in establishing an electric vehicle (EV) recharging infrastructure with 1,200 public charging points located throughout the country, it currently has no plans
for hydrogen powered vehicles. This article explores the use of hy- drogen fuel in transport and makes a recommendation to the Irish government to begin planning for a Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastruc- ture for Ireland.
Hydrogen Fuel Technology in Transport
While the concept of a fuel cell was developed in England in the 1800s, the first workable fuels cells were not produced until much later, in the 1950s. Since then, hydrogen has been advocated as a transportation fuel for a variety of reasons, including its value as a means of responding to resource scarcity.
The benefits of hydrogen-powered vehicles include the following:
• High energy efficiency of fuel cell drivetrains, which use 40% to 60% of the energy available from hydrogen, compared to internal combustion engines, which currently use only about 20% to 35% percent of the ener gy from petrol or diesel engines.
• Diverse methods by which hydrogen can be produced. (see below).
• Unlike all-electric vehicles (EVs), hydrogen powered vehicles have a comparable vehicle range and refuelling time to gasoline vehicles.
• Similar to EVs, hydrogen powered vehicles have quick starts due to high torque from the electric motor and low operating noise.
• Lack of any Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and few other air pollutants during vehicle operation and the potential for very low or no upstream GHG emissions associated with hydrogen fuel production.
With the current limitations surrounding the lithium-ion battery, electrical powered vehicles may only achieve incremental improve- ments in cost and performance. Hydrogen in contrast offers a much greater opportunity for optimisation on fuel cells to reduce costs and improve performance. The Toyota Mirai is the world’s first real attempt at a consumer hydrogen car. However, for the Mirai and the future hydrogen powered vehicles to reach anywhere near the sales volume of the conventional ICE powered cars there must be an accessible hydrogen fuelling infrastructure.
Europe’s Future Hydrogen Refuelling
Infrastructure Network
FCEVs and the associated refuelling infrastructures in Europe are currently in the very early stages of market introduction. However, during the introduction phase (i.e. until 2020) the number of stations will remain low, but will increase faster than the demand for hydrogen to ensure an adequate hydrogen refuelling network coverage allow- ing FCEV sales to a broader market. This requires a deployment of hundreds of stations per country.
The HRS investment costs will remain relatively high in the early years and with equivalent low utilisation, station investors require support in the early years to justify the challenging early invest- ments in the stations before vehicles arrive in large numbers. As demand on the stations increases, they can become profitable investments. A mature market (i.e. self-sustaining) is expected to be reached by 2025, beyond which point all that will be required to sus- tain this environmentally valuable market is a favourable regulatory regime.
Launched in June 2015 the H2ME2 is a second pan-European de- ployment of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for passenger and commercial fuel cell electric vehicles. The six-year H2ME2 project brings together 37 partners from across Europe. It will include
the deployment and operation of 1,230 fuel cell vehicles with the addition of 20 extra hydrogen-refuelling stations (HRS) to the Eu- ropean network, and will test the ability of electrolyser-HRS to help balance the electrical grid. The project has been developed under the auspices of the Hydrogen Mobility Europe (H2ME) initiative and supported by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) with funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 pro- gramme. The H2ME2 project will complement and build on a first FCH JU-funded project developed by H2ME partners, H2ME 1, which was announced in September 2015. It will create the world’s largest network of hydrogen refuelling stations which gives Fuel Cell Elec- tric Vehicle drivers access to the first truly pan-European network of hydrogen stations.
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HYDROGEN REFUELING