HyTrEc2 - Hydrogen Transport Economy for the North Sea Region

Eight organisations with an interest or experience in hydrogen have collaborated in HyTrEc2 on the development of strategies and initiatives to support the use of hydrogen in the transport and energy sectors in the North Sea Region (NSR). The partners came from the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.  

The project has aimed to contribute to the reduction of the cost of hydrogen vehicles and CO₂ emissions among other things by improving the operational efficiency of a wide range of vehicles, improving the supply chain and training and developing innovative methods for the production, storage and distribution of green hydrogen. The project has complemented national programmes and facilitated joint approaches for infrastructure and common standards.

Within the project, 33 different fuel cell vehicles such as cars, vans, large trucks and refuse lorries have been tested, with Cenex conducting the trials and analysing the results. Drenthe has run a "Sustainable Transport Living Lab" where pool cars for local authority staff that were tested and evaluated. A similar sustainable transport hub was tested at Groningen Airport.

Hydrogen transport rules and common standards across the North Sea Region have also been identified.

RISE has delivered an operational simulation of 5-9 tonne fork lift truck with fuel cell operation, looking at factors such as size of fuel cell and battery. The report is available on the project website.  https://northsearegion.eu/hytrec2/deliverables-documents/

The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), has lead the project activities about development and training in the hydrogen supply chain. Activities included, for example, training and dissemination of the results of HyTrEc2 vehicle tests, mapping of the hydrogen supply chain, development of training modules and the organisation of transnational B2B meetings.

RISE has been the WP-leader of a Work Package within low carbon hydrogen production, storage and distribution. In addition to the innovative demonstration projects implemented by the partnership,  RISE has made a large study investigating how the cost-efficiency of the production and distribution of green hydrogen and the operation of hydrogen refuelling stations can be improved. The report is available on the project website. hytrec2-wp42-rise-business-case-and-economic-modelling-for-green-h2-production.pdf (northsearegion.eu)

RISE has also recently published a study on hydrogen applications in ports and business models for these, which recently has been completed. The report demonstrates how important ports are for reducing carbon emissions and the opportunities that hydrogen presents in harbour settings.  See RISE Report on Hydrogen in Ports Published!, Interreg VB North Sea Region Programme