Future prospects for joint hydrogen research

The cooperation between TECNALIA and BTU is not new. It is based on a solid foundation, the CLEANHYPRO project, which was launched in October 2023. The Spanish company TECNALIA is the consortium leader in the EU-funded project, which involves a total of 28 partner institutions from science and industry.

Prof. Dr. Lars Röntzsch, Chair of Thermal Energy Technology and Head of the Hydrogen Research Center at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, says about the aim of the agreement: "We want to further expand our joint cooperation, even beyond the current CLEANHYPRO project. The primary goals are joint R&D projects and the exchange of students and doctoral candidates as part of our research. I see a lot of potential for both sides."

Prof. Wolfram Berger, Vice President for Internationalization at BTU, emphasizes: "This agreement is an excellent example of how we are networking in research, but also in particular with regard to our young scientists. Applied projects also offer a number of points of contact for our teaching and studies in the engineering fields - a good opportunity for Spanish students to get to know our BTU and our good study and research conditions."

The four-person delegation from the partner company TECNALIA came to Cottbus on the occasion of a regular project meeting as part of CLEANHYPRO. The main focus of the meeting was to discuss the project status, current tasks and challenges, in particular the development of pilot lines for the production and testing of electrodes for water electrolysis.

CLEANHYPRO - Open Innovation Test Bed for Electrolysis Materials for Clean Hydrogen Production - is aassociation of leading European research institutions in the field of water electrolysis, offering access to production pilots, advanced characterization techniques and non-technical services. The Open Innovation Test Bed is a central contact point for stakeholders and enables international companies to participate. As part of CLEANHYPRO, Showcase #1 will provide testing opportunities for relevant industry partners to evaluate novel electrode materials, separators or cell designs for pressurized electrolysis operation.

Dr. Ekain Fernandez, coordinator of hydrogen topics at TECNALIA, and Prof. Lars Röntzsch developed the idea of deepening the cooperation beyond the project with a view to the many synergies that can be seen in joint technology developments in the field of hydrogen and electrolysis, other joint projects at EU level, but above all in research and knowledge transfer.

CLEANHYPRO is based on an EU funding scheme in which research institutes receive funding to set up laboratories and test infrastructure that industrial project partners and external industrial partners can later use, a so-called OITB (Open Innovation Test Bed).