Luxembourg Hydrogen Valley launch;
Credit: Yevgenia Doluda, Chronicle.lu
The official launch of Luxembourg Hydrogen Valley (LuxHyVal) took place at the University of Luxembourg’s Belval campus in Esch-sur-Alzette on Monday 17 June 2024.
The presentation began with an opening speech from Professor Jens Kreisel, rector of the University of Luxembourg, who expressed his delight at the university’s collaboration on this project. He went on to say that it “reflects international collaboration, partnerships in research and industry and a clear outlook on impact for society”, all of which directly align with the university’s values.
Main coordinator of LuxHyVal, Professor Bradley Ladewig, followed the opening processions by thanking everyone for their support and patience throughout the preparations for the launch. He heavily stressed the importance of his team’s work, not only for Luxembourg, but also for the future of other countries: “this is a small puzzle piece of a much bigger picture”. The hydrogen ecosystem is expected to help decarbonise Luxembourg by helping reduce industrial hydrogen consumption in significant areas like transportation and manufacturing.
Present at the event’s panel were Stéphanie Obertin, Minister for Digitalisation and Minister for Research and Higher Education, alongside Lex Delles, Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism. Both communicated their excitement and support of LuxHyVal, with Minister Obertin saying the initiative “is in line with the national research and innovation strategy”. Minister Delles related the project to his “priorities to connect Luxembourg to a European hydrogen grid, in order to guarantee the access to competitive climate friendly hydrogen”.
However, the project is not simply looking to achieve sustainability in Luxembourg as the second stage entails direct replication of this valley in the Czech Republic and Ukraine. “We will need hydrogen to meet the EU emission targets, and with LuxHyVal, we are trying to make concrete advances towards a sustainable and cleaner future”, said Professor Ladewig. Collaboration with Ukraine is also an effort to help rebuild the country’s economy amid the ongoing war with Russia.
The project is a collaboration with Clean Hydrogen Mission and consists of 17 partners from 7 countries. Claude Seywer, CEO of Enceveo, was present at the launch, as well as the CEO of Sales-Lentz, Sam Lentz. They conveyed the extensive impact of this project on Luxembourgish industries, with Sales-Lentz possibly switching 30% of their transportation to using hydrogen technology.
LuxHyVal is co-founded by the European Union and has an overall budget of €39 million. It is expected to receive €8 million from the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a European Union public-private partnership, and is awaiting a final investment decision at the beginning of 2025. Altogether, LuxHyVal has an objective to locally produce green hydrogen, aligning with Luxembourg’s decarbonisation strategy, and strives to impact economic aspects with the support of social understanding of climate issues.
The launch finished with a brief opportunity for questions as the attendees were welcomed to a small reception afterwards and a chance to speak to the panellists, as well as view of a fuel cell hydrogen (FCH) bus from Sales-Lentz.
