TECO 2030, a Norwegian company that develops hydrogen fuel cells for ships and other heavy machinery, and Implenia Norway announced earlier this year that they will jointly develop and pilot hydrogen-powered construction solutions. The cooperation covers a period of five years and includes three initial steps, including project financing, product development and commercialisation as well as operations.

Hydrogen-powered construction solutions
As part of the project, TECO 2030 will develop a fuel cell generator with a power production capacity of 0.8 MW, which can replace diesel generators on construction sites. The delivery of the fuel cell generator is planned for January 2023. Implenia Norway will support TECO 2030 with its construction experience and knowledge and will pilot the fuel cell generator on its construction sites.

Hydrogen fuel cells are the engines of tomorrow and convert hydrogen into electricity while emitting nothing but water vapour and warm air. By switching to hydrogen fuel cells, applications that currently get their energy from diesel engines or diesel generators can use climate-friendly hydrogen instead of fossil fuels and become completely emissions-free. Furthermore, hydrogen fuel cells do not require a grid connection and will be just as mobile and flexible as a traditional diesel generator.

Sustainable innovation
The support granted by Enova amounts to NOK 15.6 million and will be provided over a period of 2.5 years, from September 2021 until end of December 2023. The Norwegian government recently announced a new strategy to increase its efforts to cut emissions from the transportation sector and construction sites and has introduced the ambitious target that these should both be fossil-free by 2025. The strategy entails a plan to engage in pilot projects.

“The construction of roads, tunnels, bridges and other infrastructure has until now largely relied on diesel as an energy source. By using hydrogen-based fuel cells instead of diesel generators, construction sites can eliminate their emissions and become more climate friendly,” says Tore Enger, CEO of TECO 2030.  

Sustainability is not only one of Implenia’s corporate values. The group also defined twelve sustainability goals to achieve until 2025, and fully supports the Norwegian government’s goal for fossil-free construction sites by 2025. The generous funding by Enova will enable Implenia and TECO 2030 to achieve this goal.

Audun Aaland, CEO of Implenia Norway, is looking forward to the cooperation: “We believe that hydrogen will play a significant role as energy carrier at future construction sites, and we are proud to have the opportunity to drive this sustainable innovation together with TECO 2030”.