German and Scottish universities team up for hydrogen research

The Scottish University of Strathclyde and the German Technical University of Braunschweig have teamed up to develop a digital toolkit for hydrogen production.

The University of Strathclyde is one of three higher education institutions in Scotland to receive funding from the Scottish Government-funded Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Scotland-Germany Hydrogen Research Scheme. The program aims to help research and practice-based partnerships between the two countries to explore the future use of hydrogen.

To this end, the University of Strathclyde is working in cooperation with Technische Universität Braunschweig to develop a digital toolkit for hydrogen production.

Both universities are now working together on the hydrogen project DiTo-H2, funded by the Scotland-Germany Hydrogen Research Scheme.

The goal of this project is to develop a modeling framework that maps technological advances at different levels and quantifies how advances translate into performance improvements at the electrolyser and energy grid level. The framework is to help rapid decision-making on the value of integrating new technologies and materials as they become available. 

“We also see the project that is now starting as a great opportunity to establish a long-term international research partnership with all project participants. An integral part of the project is a workshop in which important players in German and Scottish hydrogen research will network beyond the project consortium and develop future research strategies and subsequently design further joint project proposals around green hydrogen,” said professor Daniel Schröder from TU Braunschweig. 

“Green hydrogen is high on our research agenda. Networking in Europe is only logical in order to work together with our partner, to share knowledge and to arrive more quickly at solutions for one of the most pressing goals, the move away from fossil fuels” said professor Angela Ittel, president of TU Braunschweig. 

For Strathclyde, Dragos Neagu will lead the project.

Strathclyde principal professor Jim McDonald said: “The production and use of hydrogen offer significant opportunities to decarbonise our energy system and meet the needs of communities and industries, while helping to meet global climate change and net-zero targets. The COP26 conference, held in our home city of Glasgow, reminded us all of the urgency of these goals and the potential consequences of missing them. Together with our partners at the Technical University of Braunschweig and with the support of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, our research will accelerate the implementation of Scotland’s Hydrogen Action Plan and make further progress towards a net-zero future.”