A duo of Flemish research centres have joined forces with industry, combing together as the Hyve consortium to push green hydrogen production forwards.
On 28 May, imec and VITO, along with Bekaert, Colruyt Group, DEME and John Cockerill signalled their intention to invest in cost-efficient, sustainable production of green hydrogen at a gigawatt level. The goal is for their efforts to result in placing the Flemish region in the driving seat for the deployment of a hydrogen economy and the transition towards carbon neutral industry in Europe.
The consortium will work to make green hydrogen competitive through merging expertise in developing new components for electrolysis with material suppliers, integration companies that will integrate the new components into their electrolysers, and companies that will use the infrastructure to generate green hydrogen.
The research centres – imec and VITO – will leverage their knowledge to boost the efficiency of the electrolyser technology, with Bekaert supplying the appropriate materials and John Cockerill, specialising in the production of alkaline electrolysers, integrating the results into its production. DEME is aiming to use the electrolysers to convert wind and solar energy into green hydrogen and derived products, namely e-fuels. Through the Hyport-concept, it will strive to import cheap green hydrogen products into Europe, which are complementary to local European production.
Colruyt Group, meanwhile, will support research applications for sustainable transport. The retailer is already running a hydrogen filling station, testing hydrogen-powered forklifts along with heavy-duty trucks, collaborating on a green hydrogen plant in Zeebrugge and exploring e-fuels through Dats24.
