THE EURO-QUéBEC HYDRO-HYDROGEN PILOT PROJECT The beginning of the industrialisation of hydrogen Part 2: The view from North America

摘要

The EURO-QUéBEC HYDRO-HYDROGEN PILOT PROJECT (EQHHPP) was launchedin 1989, by the European Commission and the Government of Québec. It was todemonstrate the provision of 100 MW of clean and renewable primary energy in the formof hydropower from Québec converted via electrolysis into hydrogen which, shipped toEurope, was to be stored and used in different ways: electricity/heat co-generation, vehicle,aviation, ship propulsion and steel fabrication. Original planning meant for every step ofthe project to be carried out: hydrogen production and storage, trans°Ceanic hydrogentransportation, use of hydrogen in a bus fleet, cogeneration plants and an airbus turbine.The cost was estimated at about 800 Mio Euro or about 1,1 billion $ CAN, and neither theEuropean Commission nor the Government of Québec agreed to provide the massiverequired investments, considering that this would have to be an industry led project.However they decided to continue the project on the basis of demonstrations of variousapplications where hydrogen exhibits its attractiveness. From a North American point ofview, the work accomplished within EQHHPP led to key conclusions and opened newperspectives for the development and implementation of hydrogen technologies.