BH2C takes active part in the first edition of the Basque Hydrogen Research Day.

The conference, organised by the Energy Cluster on Friday 27 January at the Bizkaia Aretoa, Bilbao, started at 09.30 and was attended by over 150 people. The event acted as a meeting point for members of the R&D area of the business world and the leading research consortia in the Basque Country in the field of hydrogen.

The first part of the conference, focused on R&D priorities and strategic initiatives for the Basque Country, was opened by Pere Margalef, CTO of Hydrogen at SNAM, who provided a vision of activity in this area in Europe. Following this, the hydrogen area of the EnergiBasque technology strategy was outlined by Marcos Suárez, Head of H2 of the Energy Cluster, and Elías Unzueta, CIO of Petronor Innovación, provided an update on the current situation of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor as a strategic initiative of EnergiBasque in the field of H2. Later, Nora Castañeda, Hydrogen Business Manager at Sener, presented the project for the technological development and manufacture of next generation electrolysers, which has been recognised by the European Union as an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI).

In the second half of the morning, the attendees were divided into four working groups based on the H2 value chain (transport, distribution and storage, industrial sector, mobility and refinery), in which the latest developments in different projects were briefly presented and the approach and activity lines contrasted with R&D representatives from the business sector.

The four projects upon which discussion was focused in the conference were EKARRIH2, ERABILH2, H2BASQUE and H2MAT, all of which are initiatives supported by the Basque Government through the ELKARTEK collaborative research programme.