Hydrogen Village in Greece; hydrogen diplomacy office in Saudi Arabia
The first Hydrogen Village targets quantifying benefits related to energy efficiency and other environmental parameters.
Metacon’s Helbio unit has signed an MoU with DEDA, PowerCell and Soluforce for creating a Hydrogen Village demonstration and testing park for innovative hydrogen-based energy systems in Greece.
The MoU involves establishing a cooperation between the four companies, aiming at developing the project towards a “Hydrogen Village”.
Several technical energy solutions involving gas as the main resource in the project, reforming the gas to hydrogen and electricity production for households via fuel cells will be evaluated and tested.
The plan is that the entire project should display a high degree of automation and limited or no need for personnel to be involved in the operation. Monitoring of the operation will be done remotely. DEDA will play the key enabling role for the project, and the parties will also jointly seek government and other financial support.
Christer Wikner, President and CEO of Metacon, said, “Enabling the transition to a future sustainable hydrogen economy will require concrete, practical initiatives by the key actors in the energy sector.”
Mr Marios Tsakas, CEO of DEDA, said, “It is clear that the prospects for building new solutions in Gas to Hydrogen to Electricity offer fantastic possibilities for hydrogen as a source of both fuel for vehicles and electricity for societies, independent from the electrical grid.”
Hydrogen diplomacy office in Saudi Arabia
Germany has opened its hydrogen diplomacy office in Saudi Arabia to strengthen cooperation in this key sector. This is the second such office after it opened the first office in Nigeria. Germany is establishing “hydrogen diplomacy offices” in strategically important partner countries.
The role of the hydrogen diplomacy offices is to increase dialogue with strategic partner countries, covering areas such as the development of the international hydrogen market and ways to enhance cooperation to harness the opportunities that this market creates.
The offices are therefore tasked with providing expertise and analyses of the local and regional impact of the transformation.
Another key part of their role is to build ties between decision-makers, experts and companies from both countries. The offices are established in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and supplement existing energy partnerships.
