Which Came First: The Fuel Cell Application or The Hydrogen Infrastructure?

As fuel cells move to become a commercially viable means of power generation, a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure to support the crossover is vital. Whilst some fuel cell developers believe that it is necessary to have an established refuelling infrastructure to sway consumer choice in favour adopting fuel cell applications traditional energy suppliers are reluctant to invest in infrastructure until regular consumer demand for hydrogen is certain, creating a true ‘chicken and egg’ scenario.

In order to understand how the players in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry are responding to this, Fuel Cell Today has undertaken a study of current hydrogen infrastructure commercial activity.

The study looks at the different stakeholder activity from a variety of viewpoints including patents and development deals, as well as higher level inhibitors and drivers in the policy and regulatory arenas. Whilst the study focuses on Hydrogen refuelling it also touches on production, storage and distribution.

The different options and technologies explored in the study include:

1. Home refuelling

2. Commercial refuelling

3. Onsite production vs. offsite production

4. Compression vs. liquefaction vs. solid state
 

The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the current commercial development and deployment of platforms for hydrogen infrastructure. By mapping out the current state of play of the partnerships in industry, key company patents activity and the role that government is taking, Fuel Cell Today will identify common strategies being pursued to deliver hydrogen.