Hymac – Plan for the implementation of the Hydrogen Economy programme in Macaronesia: stationary applications

The main aim of the HYMAC “Plan for the implementation of the Hydrogen Economy programme in Macaronesia: stationary applications” project was to identify technologies for the production, storage and use of hydrogen, in both centralised and decentralised ways, and as fuel for road transport.

To this end, an assessment was carried out of the problems and challenges posed by each of these technologies and the lines of research in these areas, with the aim of providing an overview of the most appropriate primary energy sources, investment and running costs, the likely timeline for their commercialisation and the impact of each technology in terms of CO2 emissions (ie their potential for reducing CO2 emissions compared with traditional fossil-fuel-based technologies). Finally, a public awareness programme was conducted in order to involve the public in the efforts to achieve a new “hydrogen economy”.

The project was funded under the Europe Union’s INTERREG IIIB – MAC programme, and ended in November 2006. The University of Las Palmas coordinated the project, partnered by: the Canaries institute of technology (ITC), ITER, UNELCO, Electricidade dos Açores (EDA), the Canary Islands regional government, the island council of Lanzarote, the intermunicipal association of southeastern Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands’ Ben Magec ecologist federation, the firm Air Liquide, the regional agency for energy and the environment of the autonomous region of Madeira (AREAM), the Azores’ marine environment and technology laboratory (LAMTEC), the firm Compañía Transportista de Gas de Canarias (GASCAN) and the Tenerife island council.

The Tenerife Energy Agency (AIET) was involved in the project’s public awareness programme, through a cooperation agreement with ITER, carrying out various informative-educational activities during 2006 aimed at the general public and the education sector, at all levels.

  • Preparing the public information resources for the context of the islands, and providing advice to other partners.
  • Producing the information leaflet “The Hydrogen Revolution”.
  • Producing an information poster on hydrogen technology.
  • Publishing the said information and educational resources: 2,000 units of the leaflet were printed and 300 CDs released containing the entire material produced by the project’s partners within the awareness programme: the AIET leaflet; educational guides; fact sheets on the production, safety and economy of hydrogen; and survey questionnaires.
  • Distributing the various resources using various means (teacher teaching centres, educational institutions, trade fairs and conferences, visits to ITER, web downloads, etc).
  • Practical workshops and lectures on hydrogen, in parallel with other AIET activities, such as the talk “Renewables, hydrogen and the energy situation in Tenerife”, held at the teacher training centre, La Laguna (Tenerife), 28 April 2006, for 40 teachers from across the Canary Islands.
  • Presentation of project-related activities conducted on the island of Tenerife, at the Congress of Energy and Environmental Education, held in Murcia in November 2006 by means of a poster and a communication.
  • Presentation of a poster on project-related activities carried out on the island of Tenerife, at the Interisland Conference on Environmental Education, which took place in Tenerife, 20-23 February 2008.