Hannover Messe in Germany is the world's largest industrial, technology and trade fair, now in its 76th year. It is an exhibition that encompasses the evolving digital industry through the convergence of industrial automation, energy technology, IT platforms and artificial intelligence.

This year, 60 countries, 2,600 companies, and 8,000 products were exhibited, and 72 Korean companies participated. Members of the Gwangju Eco Energy Industry Cluster also toured this exhibition as a good opportunity to discover mid- to long-term master plans and super-gap technologies of domestic companies and analyze new challenges and opportunities of global top companies.

This exhibition was attended by global information and communication companies such as Siemens, Autodesk, Bosch, Nokia, Microsoft, and Schneider Electric, as well as various companies working on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, new energy technologies and efficiency suitable for the era of energy security, and hydrogen production and consumption.

The main theme of Hannover Messe 2023 is 'Industrial Transformation - Differentiation', and participating companies presented cutting-edge solutions tailored to each topic and industry sector, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, carbon neutrality and production, energy management, hydrogen and fuel cells, Industry 4.0, research and technology, and global business.

EU countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Italy that exhibited here had an advantage over East Asian companies in their competition due to their single currency and technological standards.

In response, it is thought that East Asian countries will need to come together as the East-Asia Agency for Technology Standards (abbreviation: e-AATS) to create technology standards and promote market expansion on a wide scale.

Germany has announced that it will stop producing nuclear power plants starting in 2023 and stop producing diesel vehicles starting in 2035. Now, Korea should also hurry up and commercialize electric vehicles, hydrogen trucks, hydrogen ships, and hydrogen trams, activate the safe DC industry, and steadily develop convergence products to challenge the global market.

■ Hydrogen Fuel Cell Exhibition Hall Fuel Cell Power Train Focus

Hanover Messe's Hall 13 will feature a variety of water electrolysis, fuel cell stack and system companies from Europe and the US, as well as material-focused European and Companies from Korea, Japan, and China were mainly exhibiting.

In order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the EU is expected to ban the sale of new vehicles with internal combustion engines starting in 2035, so it was notable that a fuel cell system was created and exhibited to convert commercial vehicles (buses, trucks, and special purpose vehicles) using diesel engines to hydrogen fuel cell systems that do not emit carbon dioxide.

Representative companies that participated included Cummins, AVL, Cellcentric, Loop, and Refire. The above companies manufacture power trains of 100kW or more and have the characteristic of providing only power trains without producing vehicles.

Therefore, it is expected that local specialty vehicle manufacturers will be able to purchase these fuel cell engines and produce eco-friendly vehicles if they wish.

Since Hyundai Mobis of Korea is also expected to sell stacks that go into FC engines, it seems possible to build a power train by purchasing only the fuel cell stack.

It was also noteworthy that there were no exhibits by companies selling MEAs (Membrane Electrode Assemblies) required for stacks, but there were quite a few exhibits by companies that produce metal separators used in stacks, and it was clear that their manufacturing technology was of a high standard.

Fuel in EuropeThe supply chain has been clearly established, from battery materials to stack and system manufacturing, and we could see the company's intention to produce and utilize hydrogen through electrolysis.

■ Evolution of the P2X ecosystem

In Germany, renewable energy is the leading energy source, accounting for 47% of total power generation.

Currently, the issue of power output restrictions due to oversupply of renewable energy is a hot topic in Korea, and what was limited to Jeju Island is now expanding to South Jeolla Province, where many renewable energy facilities are installed.

Germany has experienced problems caused by oversupply early on and has taken the lead in developing P2G-type technologies and projects to wisely resolve them.

At this year's Hannover Messe 2023, the blueprint for P2G based on renewable energy to evolve into P2X, connecting hydrogen production to consumption areas and expanding in all directions to hydrogen-based transportation (vehicles, railways, ships), factory facilities, and homes is being drawn.

In particular, large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises are expected to exhibit products and component groups related to the relevant fields, so the P2X ecosystem will soon be within reach.

Looking at the backgrounds displaying the P2X sketches, most of them are drawn with the purpose of being cities.

The value of producing hydrogen in remote offshore wind farms and transporting and utilizing the hydrogen produced in this way within cities is being placed on it.

In general, there is a will to respond to all energy-utilizing device industries with hydrogen.

It seems urgent to create a P2X-type ecosystem in which the hydrogen industry can grow in all directions in Korea as well. It seems necessary to establish a team to verify and research a system suitable for the domestic environment through international joint research, and it seems necessary to secure more energy convergence technology to activate the new energy industry.
 
※ author
Park Hee-joo, Chairman of Gwangju Eco Energy Industry Cluster, Park Chan-ho, Professor of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, and Ko Jae-ha, Professor of Honam University