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The first hydrogen pumping station in the Czech Republic was launched into operation in Neratovice, central Bohemia, on Thursday after three years of preparations by the Nuclear Research Institute (ÚJV) in co-operation with Linde Gas.

It has taken almost three years and three million Euro dollars to complete the station. Three quarters of the costs have been by state and EU subsidies.

The station will use gaseous hydrogen pressures of 300 bars and a typical filling of a bus will takes about ten minutes.

The project has an annual capacity of 72 thousand meters cubic (about six tons) of hydrogen.

“It’s not just one hydrogen station in the Czech Republic but throughout Central and Eastern Europe,” said Chief Marketing Officer of Linde Pavel Jirsa.

At this time there are several dozen hydrogen station operating in Europe,  a large part in neighboring Germany.

The prototype hydrogen bus in the Czech Republic is called the TriHyBus  which was developed by Škoda Plzeň Electric.

The bus will be a hybrid and have three complementary power sources – fuel cells, capacitors and batteries.

Ceres Power (‘Ceres’, the ‘Company’, the ‘Group’) today announces that it has signed an agreement (the ‘Agreement’) with Bord Gáis Éireann (‘BGE’) for residential combined heat and power (‘CHP’) products operating on natural gas for the Irish market (including the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland ).  This marks the first international contract for Ceres Power outside mainland UK and forms part of the Group’s expansion plans into Europe , initially targeting highly adjacent growth markets.

The Agreement with BGE builds upon Ceres Power’s existing natural gas CHP programme with British Gas, and will use the same core technology platform, allowing the Company to exploit economies of scale. Under the Agreement, Ceres and BGE aim to establish CHP as the low carbon residential energy system of choice for Ireland .  There are more than 2.5 million homes in the island of Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy, the retail arm of Bord Gáis, is Ireland ’s leading dual fuel energy supplier selling natural gas and electricity to all market segments. Bord Gáis also provides appliance servicing of products to customers focusing on boiler service and repair and has recently announced a major energy efficiency Home Services Initiative in 2010 offering homeowners a full-scale energy efficiency service.

Under the terms of the Agreement, BGE will pay Ceres £1.6 million in milestone payments during the development and trialling of the CHP Product (the ‘Initial Phase’), including an up-front payment of £1 million. In addition, BGE has agreed to place a call-off order for 16,000 CHP products in aggregate over a four-year period for the Irish market, conditional upon successful completion of the Initial Phase and agreement of standard commercial terms, including the price, for the supply of CHP products. Subject to BGE meeting minimum order volumes, Ceres has agreed to sell the CHP product to BGE for the Irish market on an exclusive basis for a four year period anticipated to begin in early 2012.

Ceres and BGE intend to maximise sales of the residential CHP Product by addressing both the installed base of existing homes that would benefit from an upgrade as well as the annual boiler replacement market. Both of these customer groups will be able to enjoy convenient, low carbon, cost-competitive energy with this environmentally friendly product.

Peter Bance, CEO of Ceres Power, said:

“We are delighted to have formed this relationship with Bord Gáis Éireann which builds on Ceres Power’s leadership position in the residential CHP market and marks the beginning of our expansion plans internationally.  Our technology has the potential to address exciting markets across Europe as well as North America and Asia .  This new contract helps further underpin our investment in the Horsham factory that will create new skilled ‘green collar’ jobs in the UK and in our extended supply chain.”

John Mullins, Chief Executive of Bord Gáis Éireann, said:

“Working with Ceres Power on this revolutionary technology further highlights Bord Gáis’ position as a market leader and green energy innovator in Ireland . The Ceres Power residential CHP product will help accelerate a transition to a low carbon economy and make much more efficient use of precious energy resources.  The CHP product has the potential to deliver significant energy savings, carbon emissions reductions and improved overall energy efficiency for the retrofit residential market in the Island of Ireland .  We look forward to bringing this product to our customers as part of our strategy to be Ireland ’s sustainable provider of customer-led energy solutions. ”

By Claire Piech

Commuters will be able to ride Whistler’s first hydrogen fuel-cell bus by Nov. 17.

B.C. Transit announced this week that the first of 20 hydrogen buses will arrive in Whistler Monday, Nov. 9, with the state-of-the-art bus officially in service the following week.

People who ride the new bus should notice that it is smoother and quieter than the traditional diesel buses in Whistler, said Joanna Morton, spokesperson for B.C. Transit.

The other 19 hydrogen buses that are part of the $89 million federal and provincial pilot project should all arrive sometime before the end of December.

Each time a new hydrogen bus arrives in Whistler, it will have to undergo commissioning and servicing. B.C. Transit couldn’t say this week exactly when all 20 buses will be in service within Whistler, but another spokesperson with the Crown agency confirmed all buses will be running during the 2010 Winter Games.

Once the buses arrive in Whistler, they will be kept at the brand-new transit facility currently under construction near Nesters Road.

Morton said B.C. Transit is also planning to celebrate the arrival of the first hydrogen bus this month, although a date for the event hasn’t been nailed down yet.

She added that B.C. Transit will also release the budget for the multi-million-dollar bus hub at the celebration.

The hydrogen-fuelled vehicles are assembled in Winnipeg and transported to Vancouver by trailer. They are then driven to Victoria where technicians do preparation work before the buses are sent to Whistler. Every single bus also goes through a 15-day test before B.C. Transit accepts it from the manufacturer.

B.C. Transit also did extensive testing with a pre-production version of the hydrogen buses in Whistler, Victoria, and Ottawa. The model passed the tests, said Morton, with no issues climbing hills or functioning in minus 20 degrees Celsius weather.

“These buses are going to be in operation for potentially up to 22 hours in Whistler during the Games, so we needed to have the confidence that the buses would be operational in a cold climate,” said Morton.