Roads2HyCom

Research co-Ordination, Assessment, Deployment and Support to HyCOM

The European Commission continuously updates its Framework Programme 7 (2007-2013). Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies form a vital element of the agendas for the future, thereby helping protect the climate and promoting independence of energy supply. However, much work is still needed to meet the goals of the envisaged “hydrogen energy economy”. Innovative approaches will have to solve problems of hydrogen production and distribution, lifetimes of applications, efficiencies etc. in the forthcoming years

In order to fund the “right” projects, robust and objective information is needed on how to bridge the gap between what is there at the moment and what is desired for the future.

Roads2HyCom was a research project to assess and monitor these options, focussing on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for stationary and mobile applications. It supported the European Commission and stakeholders in planning future research activities. This was achieved by considering the state-of-the-art of these technologies, relative to competitive technical benchmarks, current and future hydrogen infrastructures and energy resources, and the needs of communities that may be early adopters of the technology.

Roads2HyCom achieved this goal by three key elements of work:

Mapping of researchers, technology advances, infrastructures, energy resources, and potential early adopting (“hydrogen communities”)
Analysis of the state-of-the-art technologies, likely evolutionary development scenarios, capacity of future energy sources, and generic classifications of technology adopters
Engagement of stakeholders, ranging from the European Commission, the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technology Platform and national/regional governments, to researchers and existing or potential communities of early-adopters, via dialogue, workshops, dissemination and training.

The European Commission also supported the Coordination Action “HyLights”. The two projects were complementary and worked in close coordination. HyLights focused on the preparation of the large scale demonstration for transport applications, while Roads2HyCom concentrated on identifying opportunities for research activities relative to the needs of industrial stakeholders and communities that could contribute to the early adoption of hydrogen as a universal energy vector.

PLANET´s Role

PLANET was the second largest partner in this project and responsible for major management, co-ordination and research tasks. We led the hydrogen resources and infrastructure mapping, building a comprehensive data base for further analyses in the project. Mapping included an EU-wide inventory of hydrogen production, distribution and use.

PLANET contributed to the cost structure analysis relying on the company's comprehensive expertise in cost models. It did not only cover current costs but also different cost development scenarios for the future.

By providing training to stakeholders and engaging in the composition of a “Handbook for Hydrogen Communities”, PLANET accounted for part of the outreach of the project, including the dialogue with communities and building a reference group of energy suppliers as a discussion forum for early results of Roads2HyCom.

PLANET was also involved in the strategic alignment of the project and the resulting policy recommendations with a leading role in the Core Group and representative functions in various EU-panels and committees.

Project Key Information

Roads2HyCom was a consortium of twenty-nine key stakeholders from industry, consultancies, research institutes and academia. The partnership had been constructed to capture a good cross-section of those active in the sector. It started in October 2005 and ran through April 2009. The project had an overall budget of nearly 8 million € of which the European Commission covered 50% under its 6th Framework Programme (contract no: 0019733).

You can find more details about the project on: www.roads2hy.com