Munich, March 2023

RE4Industry held in Germany, Munich, its 5th General Assembly and Consortium meeting, having been able to bring together at least one representative of each of the Consortium partners. Being a hybrid event, some were still able to join online.

For three days, the Consortium gathered to debate and update each other on the last activities performed in the framework of the project and took the chance as well to align expectations and actions to be taken in the following months. 

Besides the fruitful discussion, the group had the chance to visit Munich’s Technical University facilities and labs, giving them the chance to get some insights into the research methods and current projects. On the last day, it was still possible to visit the WACKER CHEMIE site, a technological leader in the chemical industry that manufactures products for all key global industries. 

The General Assembly ran smoothly and was a successful event where the following preliminary conclusion could be outlined:

The survey conducted on the public perception of green hydrogen and biomethane in Greece, The Netherlands and Spain is currently being analysed. Overall, the public perceptions of hydrogen and biomethane are positive. Most people conducting the survey believe that both energy solutions have the potential to benefit both the environment and the economy.

Case studies conducted in close collaboration with industrial consortium partners indicate the challenges that these companies will face soon to implement decarbonisation technologies within the steel, chemicals and aluminium sectors. RE4Industry partners concluded that the cost of decarbonisation technologies is a main concern for industries. Especially considering that they face huge pressure to remain competitive in the global market.

The analysis conducted on decarbonisation technologies within the 2050 scope indicates that the production of synthetic fuels from CO2 will have a major role in the deep decarbonisation of the industrial sector. Additionally, the technology analysis conducted in by the RE4Industry partners indicates that many industrial processes will be able to be electrified, still, plenty more will require a source of renewable heat. Renewable gases like biomethane and especially green hydrogen will provide a such source of renewable heat, RE4Industry partners discussed the barriers and limitations of the availability of green hydrogen to not only provide renewable heat to the industry but also enough hydrogen to produce synthetic fuels from CO2.

The last RE4Industry Knowledge Transfer Seminar is taking place in Zagreb, Croatia in June. Co-organized by ESEIA, and the University of Zagreb – Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, this event is the last of a series of knowledge transfer seminars held in multiple EU countries in 2022-23. The RE4Industry Knowledge Transfer Seminar Croatia aims to provide a platform to debate how EIIs can succeed in this challenge and accelerate the already ongoing shift towards renewable energy solutions initiated with the RE4Industry project, funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020.

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