The Port of València will be the first European port to integrate hydrogen technologies for the reduction of the environmental impact caused by terminal machinery operations, announcing the upcoming launch of a hydrogen supply station (HRS) in January 2022.
The Spanish port will have a mobile “hydrogen station” or green hydrogen supply station that will provide the necessary fuel in the appropriate conditions and quantities “to guarantee the continuous working cycles of the equipment forming part of the H2Ports project,” according to the port authority.
The Head of Ecological Transition of the Port Authority of Valencia, Federico Torres said that these are very important machines as they are in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. “Within our objectives and calculations of emissions, the terminal machinery represents almost 25% of the emissions that we want to reduce through this type of energy” he noted.
The HRS that is currently being developed at the National Hydrogen Centre will include a fixed part that will be dedicated to storing hydrogen from an external supplier and compressing it to delivery pressure, as well as a mobile part that will store the compressed hydrogen and include a hydrogen dispenser for refuelling the port machinery.
It will also consist of three main components: a low-pressure hydrogen tank into which the hydrogen supplier will discharge, a two-stage water-cooled piston hydrogen compressor with heat exchangers integrated into the system, and a mobile high-pressure hydrogen storage and supply unit, consisting of two hydrogen storage stages at 300 and 450 bar and a 350 bar dispenser for heavy vehicles with communications.
The first of this equipment will be the energy-powered machine or prototype of the Reach Stacker vehicle or “container stacker” which will be tested at MSC Terminal Valencia. In addition, the second piece to be serviced by the hydrogen plant will be a 4×4 tractor unit equipped with a fuel cell stack for testing in loading/unloading operations at Grimaldi Group’s Valencia Terminal Europa.
The hydrogen plant is part of ‘H2PORTS – Implementing Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technologies in Ports’, a European project that will enable Valencia and its port to work and move port machinery with hydrogen.
The project is coordinated by the Valenciaport Foundation in close collaboration with the Port Authority which is financed by the European Union’s Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) program to test and validate hydrogen technologies on port machinery.
