Valencia, Hydrogen Port.
The storage tank was loaded with H2 and next week the mobile hydrogen will be filled
During this first quarter of the year, the other two prototypes of this project will arrive at the Valencian premises: A ‘Reachstacker’ or container stacker and a 4×4 tractor unit.
The Port of Valencia is a pioneer in Europe in the use of hydrogen technology in terminal operations
Raúl Cascajo, Head of Environmental Policies at Valenciaport:
With this milestone of the first hydrogen charge at the supply station, we value and put Valenciaport’s commitment to decarbonization into real value.
Cristina Ballester of the National Hydrogen Center:
It is a source of pride that this technology is being developed and researched in Spain”
Aurelio Lázaro, technician from the Valenciaport Foundation:
The next step is to test the use of H2 in the Reachstacker machines and the tractor unit, two pioneering vehicles that will allow us to verify the real use of this fuel in port operations.
Valencia is the Port of Hydrogen. The Valencian venue has received the first charge of hydrogen (H2) to supply the supply station located on the Xità wharf. A historical milestone that positions it as the first port in Europe to have a hydrogen installation in real operating conditions.
It is the only facility capable of supplying the needs of the terminals through mobile hydrogen and the fixed tank that stores this fuel. A turning point for the port community and European ports to start testing one of the fuels of the future.
This hydrogen supply station (HRS) includes a fixed part that is dedicated to the reception, storage and compression of hydrogen up to the delivery pressure, on which the test has been carried out today, and a mobile part that stores compressed hydrogen and has a dispenser for refueling port machinery.
This morning at 10:30 a.m., the first tubetrailer of green hydrogen cylinders that has been loaded into the storage tank of the Port of Valencia arrived at the hydrogen generation facilities . Different tests have been carried out for approximately one hour to prepare the entire operation to proceed with the H2 filling of the fixed tank located on the Xità wharf.
Technicians from the Valencia Port Authority (APV), the Valenciaport Foundation, the National Hydrogen Center -in charge of designing and building the station-, and Carburos Metálicos -a company that provides the hydrogen- were present at the test.
Next week the mobile station that will be in charge of moving to the MSC and Grimaldi terminals will be charged to supply hydrogen to the two prototypes of port machinery, which will arrive in the near future, where this clean fuel will be tested.
Specifically, it will be tested on a ‘Reachstacker’ vehicle or container stacker and on a 4×4 tractor unit. In the coming weeks, a team of stevedores and technicians from Valenciaport will travel to the Netherlands to test the Reachstacker that is being designed by the firm Hyster Europa. The ro-ro tractor is being adapted by Atena Distretto. Both will work with fuel cells and electric motors, which will receive energy with H2, and will be 0 emissions.
The head of Environmental Policies of the PAV, Raúl Cascajo, has stressed that “this project is strategic for the reduction of emissions and adds to other initiatives such as the installation of photovoltaic plants or wind turbines to comply with our commitment to be a zero emissions port in 2030.”
“This H2Ports initiative is the first to be carried out in a European port to test mobility and its use in machinery. With this milestone of the first charge of hydrogen from the supply station, we value and make real the commitment of Valenciaport with decarbonization”.
“Today is a very important day for the Port of Valencia because we started working with renewable hydrogen by filling the hydrogenerator with this fuel. This project is part of Valenciaport’s decarbonisation plans and represents a further step towards the goal of zero emissions by 2030 and becoming an emission-neutral port”, explained Aurelio Lázaro, head of the H2Ports project of the Valenciaport Foundation, who has pointed out that “the next step is to test the use of H2 in the Reachstacker machines and the tractor unit, two pioneering vehicles that will make it possible to verify the real use of this fuel in port operations.”
For her part, Cristina Ballester of the National Hydrogen Center has highlighted the importance of “introducing hydrogen technologies in a port as strategic as that of Valencia through a portable station to supply this clean fuel to the two prototypes of machinery in the MSC and Grimaldi terminals.”
“It is a very ambitious research project with a view to enabling ports to generate hydrogen and be capable of self-management so that all port machinery works with 0 emissions”. For Cristina Ballester, “that such powerful projects develop engineering and research in Spain is a great value and very important to position our country.”
Project supported by the European Union
This initiative is part of H2Ports –Implementing Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technologies in Ports-. This is an initiative coordinated by the Valenciaport Foundation in collaboration with the Valencia Port Authority (APV) and is financed by the Clean Hydrogen JU program of the European Union.
Its main objective is to test and validate hydrogen technologies on port machinery that allow having applicable and real solutions without affecting the performance and safety of port operations and producing zero local emissions. The Port of Valencia began working with hydrogen in 2019, before this
The H2Ports project will entail a total investment of more than 4 million euros and, in addition to the Valenciaport Foundation and the PAV, the research centers Centro Nacional del Hidrogen and Atena Distretto Alta Tecnologia Energia Ambiente and private companies MSC Terminal Valencia participate in it. , Grimaldi Group, Hyster-Yale, Ballard Power Systems Europe, Metallic Carbides and Enagás.
Valenciaport is committed to the fight against climate change and decarbonization through different actions with the aim of being a neutral emissions site by 2030.
Hydrogen is one of the lines of work that the Valencia site is carrying out, which has has been recognized by the Government of Spain as a benchmark in the framework of the ‘Hydrogen Roadmap’. In fact, the PAV is participating in various international projects such as H2Ports , of which hydrogen is a part, or Green Cranes , in which the adaptation of cranes to sustainable fuels is analysed.
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Valencia, Hydrogen Port, January 17, 2022
