Successful DTU conference on electrolysis gave researchers and the industry an international forum to exchange and share information and ideas on research, development and commerciality of electrolysis.
The positive feedback has been overwhelming since DTU Energy hosted the world's first international conference on electrolysis for energy purposes, the International Conference on Electrolysis 2017 (ICE2017).
The conference at Axelborg in Central Copenhagen was the first open forum in the world concentrating solely on electrolysis, causing leading names within electrolysis from both the research community and industry to travel to Copenhagen from all over the world. The more than 200 participants came from 26 countries around the world, most of them from the EU, USA, Japan, China and South Africa.
"We experienced huge support from the international research, development and commercial electrolysis community," says Professor Jens Oluf Jensen, DTU Energy, who was in charge of the conference.
"We certainly hit a huge need for an international forum that focuses only on electrolysis. All 18 invited speakers accepted the invitation without reservation, and in addition, the number of abstracts for lectures was twice the size of the program"
Prof. Jens Oluf Jensen, DTU Energy
The goal was a three-day conference with 150 participants, but the organizers had to extend the conference with an additional day to accommodate all those that wanted to participate.
"We certainly hit a huge need for an international forum that focuses only on electrolysis. All 18 invited speakers accepted the invitation without reservation, and in addition, the number of abstracts for lectures was twice the size of the program, even after we expanded with an extra day. "
Among the international and Danish companies present were Siemens, Shell, NEL Hydrogen, 3M, Hydrogenics and Haldor Topsøe.
"Of course we are here, as is everybody else. Both production and service companies in addition to the researchers, and we are all here to get a feel of a growing market", said Charudatta Patil and Jeff Martin from Shell during the conference. Marcelo Carmo, representative of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Electrolysis Division (TCP-IFC Electrolysis Annex 30), also commented on ICE2017.
"The ICE2017 is a rare opportunity for experts, researchers and students to meet under the same roof and exchange and share information and ideas", said Marcelo Carmo.
The technology of electrolysis has existed for decades, but until ICE2017 in Copenhagen, exchange of ideas and progress in the field of electrolysis only appeared as workshops or topical sessions at conferences on other types of energy technologies. For the same reason, the organizers intentionally mixed the presentations, allowing the participants of ICE to expand their horizons on the different types of electrolysis cells (alkaline, polymer, and ceramic). Part of the concept was that ICE2017 was to be the first event in a conference series to be held every two years in the future. Norway will be hosting ICE2019.
"The participants were very satisfied with both the conference and the conference center, and the big success on ICE2017 has brought international attention to Danish research in the field of electrolysis," says Jens Oluf Jensen, DTU Energy. He is pleased that ICE2017 created a forum for electrolysis researchers, as DTU Energy has major activities in the field of electrolysis for energy storage.
ICE2017 was created in collaboration between DTU, Aalborg University and EWII Fuel Cells, and supported by a number of research projects under Innovation Fund Denmark and EUDP (the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program).