Valencia pioneers hydrogen machinery

The two parties signed a collaboration agreement with Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), a public-private partnership promoted by the European Commission during a ‘Workshop on Maritime and port applications’ organised by FCH JU and Joint Research Center (JRC).

Ramón Gómez-Ferrer, director of strategy and innovation at the Port of Valencia, said: “At the Port Authority of Valencia we try to promote the adoption of best practices to reduce emissions in our port environment. The emission reduction targets set out in the Paris Declaration are ambitious and we are therefore exploring all the alternatives to contribute to mitigating climate change.”

“The hydrogen fuel cells are a very interesting alternative because they don´t generate emissions neither noise, but it is necessary to investigate and make further progress in this technology.”

He added that the Port of Valencia and the Valenciaport Foundation have participated previously in research for the use of LNG in port machinery.

Carlos Navas, head of FCH JU, added that “hydrogen cells produce electricity and have great advantages for reducing emissions and for use in transport.”

He said that FCH JU intends to start developing prototypes to use in the maritime-port environment so it can check technical needs and economic cost. He estimates that by the end of the decade, it could be testing prototypes of hydrogen-powered port machinery.

The Valencia conference followed on from a 2015 conference on ‘smart specialisation’ and further examined maritime and port applications, with several sessions focused on hydrogen applications and fuel cells for ships, logistics and stationary applications, as well as security, regulations and funding mechanisms.