The European project HYDEA has received today in Bordeaux, at a ceremony during the 11th Conference of the Atlantic Stakeholder Platform, the Atlantic Project Award 2024 in the category of Blue skills and Ocean literacy, highlighting successful initiatives and achievements relevant to the implementation of the Atlantic Action Plan 2.0. The awards, organised by the Atlantic Strategy Committee with the support of the Atlantic Assistance Mechanism, highlight those projects that have been carried out in the EU Atlantic Action Plan member states over the past years, showcasing success stories, best practices and partnership models that could be scaled up at regional, national, European or international level, while promoting the key priorities of the Atlantic Strategy.
The main objective of HYDEA is to assess, develop and promote the use of technologies based on green hydrogen from renewable energy sources (like marine energy) in ports in the Atlantic Area. This is articulated through the achievement of several specific objectives, which will address the following challenges:
- Promoting a clear role for hydrogen in the strategic energy plans of ports.
- Increasing knowledge on various hydrogen production technologies that are viable for use in ports.
- Implementing technological demonstrators that attract the interest of investors towards viable business models.
During this first year of implementation, the first results have been obtained: the creation of an interactive map of the main hydrogen initiatives in the Atlantic Area ports, which offers a complete overview of the role that ports are taking in the hydrogen economy and an overview of the project models that are being carried out; the identification of the most promising hydrogen applications, bottlenecks and opportunities in the ports of Brest, Leixões, Vigo, Seville, Bilbao, Gijón and Galway; and the organisation of international discussions about safety and security issues that took place within the Sea Tech Week held in October in Brest, France.
HYDEA paves the way to accelerate the development and application of technologies based on the use of green hydrogen as an energy alternative in different types of fleets and vehicles, thus taking a further step in research for the development and application of alternatives to current energy sources. Green hydrogen comes from renewable energies with zero CO2 emissions, making it a clean, sustainable fuel with a zero-pollution index, making it a key agent for the decarbonization of society in general, and ports in particular.
The HYDEA project consortium, funded by the Interreg Atlantic Area 2021-2027 programme, brings together entities from Spain, France, Portugal and Ireland under the leadership of EnergyLab, with the active participation of 4 ports, 2 universities and 3 companies: Port Authority of Vigo, Port Authority of Seville, Société Portuaire Brest Bretagne, Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões e Viana do Castelo, France Energies Marines, National University of Ireland, Galway, University of Porto, Hive Hydrogen, and Évolution Synergétique Automotive S.L.
