- H2PORTS, coordinated by Fundación Valenciaport, incorporates hydrogen into port logistics operations with the aim of reducing their environmental impact.
Valencia – 26.10.20.- The application of hydrogen in the transport and logistics sector is one of the fundamental axes of the “Hydrogen Road Map: a commitment to renewable hydrogen”. This initiative, recently approved by the government at the proposal of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), aims to deploy this sustainable energy, which is key to Spain’s goal of climate neutrality.
Valenciaport was one of the entities that actively participated in the consultation carried out by the Ministry for the development of this national strategy to promote this green energy. The “Hydrogen Road Map” establishes a series of objectives to make this renewable energy a key sustainable solution for the decarbonisation of the economy and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, an objective that in the case of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) is anticipated twenty years ahead with its plan “2030, zero emissions”.
In this sense, the H2Ports project, coordinated by Fundación Valenciaport in collaboration with the PAV, is the model that MITECO highlights for the area of mobility and maritime transport. The H2Ports initiative is a pilot project carried out in the Port of Valencia to incorporate hydrogen into port logistics operations with the aim of reducing its environmental impact, and which will place Valenciaport as the first port in Europe to incorporate hydrogen energy into its terminals. H2Ports is one of the five ongoing initiatives highlighted by MITECO in the field of hydrogen whose relevance has been recognised through the granting of public funding from state or European funds.
Public-private partnership
The H2Ports project allows testing three pilots that will operate in the Port of Valencia: a reach stacker for loading/unloading and transporting containers, powered by hydrogen; a terminal tractor for ro-ro operations, powered by hydrogen cells and a mobile hydrogen supply station that will provide the fuel necessary to guarantee the continuous work cycles of the above-mentioned equipment. The project also has as a cross-cutting objective to carry out feasibility studies for the development of a sustainable hydrogen supply chain in the port, coordinating all the actors involved: customers, hydrogen producers, suppliers, etc. The project is the result of a public-private partnership and involves the PAV, Fundación Valenciaport, the National Hydrogen Centre and the companies MSC Terminal Valencia, Grimaldi Group, Hyster-Yale, Athens, Ballard Power Systems Europe and ENAGAS.
The National Hydrogen Centre (CNH2) is currently developing the hydrogen supply station (which will guarantee the supply of this fuel, in suitable conditions, during the simultaneous operation of the other two pilots to be tested throughout the project: a Reach Stacker, for MSC Terminal Valencia, and a 4×4 terminal tractor, at Valencia Terminal Europa of the Grimaldi Group, both powered by fuel cells.
The initiative, which has a total investment of 4 million euro and is financed by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) programme under Grant Agreement No 826339, will test and validate hydrogen technologies on port machinery with the aim of having applicable and real solutions without affecting the performance and safety of port operations and producing zero local emissions. H2Ports has been internationally recognised with the GREEN4SEA Port Award 2019 in environmental matters.
H2Ports is one of the initiatives of Valenciaport centred on the objective of becoming a “zero emissions” port and supported by pillars such as research (through entities such as Fundación Valenciaport, Ports 4.0 etc.) and infrastructures.
