Project NewsCOSMHYC DEMO: a new refuelling station for boosting regional and European hydrogen mobility

The COSMHYC DEMO consortium and the "Touraine Vallée de l'Indre" community of municipalities (CCTVI) organised an Avant-Première event to present the new hydrogen refuelling station built in the scope of the EU-funded COSMHYC DEMO project to regional actors. This marks a significant milestone in the implementation of clean hydrogen mobility both in the Touraine Vallée de l'Indre region and along national and European mobility corridors.

The new Hydrogen Refuelling Station (HRS), built and installed by CAVENDISH HYDROGEN (a world leading company in hydrogen technologies based in Norway and Denmark), is now operational. The project coordinator, from the European Institute for Energy Research, commented: "This HRS is a major milestone of our EU funded project. After the validation of its functionalities in the initial phase, the demonstration phase can now start. The goal is to showcase the performance of the COSMHYC hybrid compression solution, integrating the improved mechanical compressor of CAVENDISH with EIFHYTEC’s innovative thermal compressor”.

The new equipment is a "dual" HRS capable of refuelling light-duty utility hydrogen vehicles, passenger cars, as well as heavy duty vehicles such as trucks and refuse collection vehicles at both 350 and 700 bar. This will enable clean mobility in the region as well as be of high relevance at a wider scale, as the HRS is located just off motorway A10, which is a TEN T corridor, connecting Paris to Bordeaux. Therefore, the station will perfectly complement the existing French and European HRS network, bridging the gap between Nantes, Paris and Lyon and more generally, between BENELUX, Spain and Portugal. As underlined by Alain Esnault, vice-president of CCTVI and pioneer for the local development of hydrogen projects “With this initiative, CCTVI is reinforcing its long-term commitment for clean hydrogen mobility, setting an example on how to implement a territorial practical project for CO2 emissions reduction”

To present the new station to regional companies, an “Avant-Première” event took place on the 12^th of September. After technical presentations of COMSHYC DEMO at the CCTVI offices, the event was then continued at the HRS site with live refuelling demonstrations showcasing the process on HYUNDAI and PHINIA vehicles. Over 60 participants from several sectors accepted the invitation of CCTVI, showing high interest for the deployment of diverse hydrogen applications. An official inauguration celebration will be announced in the coming weeks, in order to present the equipment to further end-users and to the interested public.

COSMHYC DEMO  is coordinated by EIFER (European Institute For Energy Research). Partners are EIFHYTEC, MAHYTEC, Cavendish hydrogen, Touraine Vallée de l'Indre and Steinbeis Europa Zentrum. Steinbeis Europa Zentrum and EIFER have been working together on European research projects since 2010 and have acquired around € 25.5 million in EU funding through six funded projects. Steinbeis Europa Zentrum supported the submission of project proposals and assists EIFER with the implementation of the project and the communication, dissemination and exploitation of research results. Together with other European partners, EIFER and Steinbeis promote the market entry of hydrogen technologies. Read more: Climate-neutral with hydrogen - Steinbeis EN (steinbeis-europa.de)

About the project:

COSMHYC DEMO is a Horizon 2020 EU project funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, coordinated by the European Institute For Energy Research (EIFER, Germany) which aims to demonstrate the maturity of an innovative hydrogen compression technology by installing it into an HRS in the “Touraine Vallée de l'Indre” region in France. With a budget of 3.7 M €, six consortium partners are working on improving this essential step of the hydrogen refuelling process. Cost reductions and improvements of the compression efficiency of are crucial for the success of hydrogen mobility.

More details on the COSMHYC projects series: www.cosmhyc.eu. Regular updates and news on twitter (@cosmhyc_fch) and LinkedIn (@COSMHYC project series).

For further information visit www.cosmhyc.eu, contact info@cosmhyc.eu or:

Anséric Leon, CCTVI, France

anseric.leon@tourainevalleedelindre.fr