Salvatore Oricchio

24_7 ZEN, a 36-month-long project officially began on February 2023, and received a total grant of approximately €5.5 million euros from the European Commission within Horizon Europe under the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (CORDIS).

The "GreenHub" project is one of a total of eight large-scale flagship projects of the Swiss Innovation Agency (Innosuisse). Together with 16 research partners, the consortium led by OST is pursuing a clear goal: the development of systemic and innovative approaches for the production, conversion and storage of renewable energy into environmentally friendly liquid fuels using raw materials supplied, for example, by waste incineration plants.

A large proportion of the rural population in Ethiopia suffers from energy poverty. For those affected, biomass (primarily firewood) is the only available source of energy. The overexploitation of Ethiopia's forests can only be stopped if the population has access to suitable fuel alternatives. Locally produced solar fuels using Power-to-X (P2X) could be precisely this alternative in the future. The establishment of a competence centre for solar fuels and P2X technology at the Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU) in Ethiopia is being planned and implemented to exploit this potential in the future.

An alkaline pressure electrolyser has been further developed through an innovative cell design with the use of multiphysics simulations to enable the provision of primary control power and to improve the efficiency in dynamic operation.

The HIGGS project aims to show that the safe injection of hydrogen into the EU high pressure transmission natural gas grid is a sustainable, long-term solution to decarbonise the energy system. HIGGS is going to identify remaining weaknesses regarding H2-Readiness and develop a pathway for a stepwise integration of hydrogen in the EU gas network.