Blue World Technologies takes over Aalborg fuel cell site
Blue World Technologies has taken over an 8,500sqm production building at the Port of Aalborg as it aims to meet rising demand for fuel cell alternatives to combustion engines.
CEO and Co-founder Anders Korsgaard said, to their knowledge, it marked the largest methanol fuel cell factory globally and was a cost-efficient solution, enabling the future scale up of its "double-digit million euro order book" in one location.
"Sometimes opportunities arise that cannot be passed, and this was one of them," he said. "This location does not only provide the space to scale-up our fuel cell component production to match the market demand, especially within the heavy-duty transportation sector, but it also covers the need for all of our project activities."
Production equipment for core fuel cell components such as membrane and electrode for the MEA (membrane electrode assembly) will be installed at Langerak 15A within the first half of 2021. It is targeting full-scale commercial production capacity of 50,000 fuel cell units per year within the next three years.
Blue World Technologies, founded in 2018, is focused on the high-temperature PEM-technology combined with methanol-reforming. The combination ensures a simple system design with high conversion efficiency and significant benefits including CO2 reduction, fuel cost savings, and zero harmful emissions.
In December 2020 Blue World Technologies closed its most recent investment round of €6.4 million and is aiming at a future IPO.
Fuel cell technologies gather speed
Advent Technologies Holdings acquired UltraCell, the fuel cell division of Bren-Tronics, on February 18. UltraCell is a leader in lightweight fuel cells for the portable power market.
The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) at Ulm held a groundbreaking ceremony on February 10, for HyFaB – A Research Fab for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells - which aims to open next year.
The ZSW is going to establish an open industry platform for automated production and quality assurance processes, factory acceptance testing and commissioning of fuel-cell stacks.
Hyzon Motors and New Zealand’s Hiringa Energy have signed a vehicle supply agreement, with Hyzon commissioned to build and supply Hiringa with zero emission HGVs. Its 50-tonne trucks have a range of 400-600kms.
The hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks, to be assembled at Hyzon’s facility in Winschoten, The Netherlands, will be manufactured in full compliance with local New Zealand requirements and the first batch of vehicles are expected to enter service by the end of 2021. Hyzon plans to roll out 1,500 fuel cell trucks by 2026.