Hydrogen technicians to be trained in Aberdeen through City Council and NESCOL partnership
17 May 2017
An accredited course for fuel cell and hydrogen technicians in Aberdeen is being developed as part of the city’s position as a hydrogen technologies hub.
Aberdeen City Council is working with North East of Scotland College (NESCOL) and EU partners to build on the city’s reputation as part of the Energy Capital of Europe with the new course.
The city has invested in infrastructure and transport and it now has two hydrogen refuelling stations, along with a fleet of 10 buses and 18 cars and vans, with further expansion of the fleet planned.
The course is to be shaped over the next year as part of the EU-wide FCH Train project, which has a meeting in Aberdeen today (17 May) and tomorrow (Thursday 18 May), and the course will be available after completion of the project.
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “It is fantastic that we are going to be working with NESCOL and the other partners to develop an accredited course for fuel cell and hydrogen technicians as it supports the work we have already carried out in the city pioneering hydrogen as a viable fuel.
“We look forward to working with NESCOL and the other partners on this exciting new chapter in the city’s hydrogen story.”
A NESCOL spokeswoman said: “The College is delighted to be part of this project and we look forward to discussing our potential involvement over the next few days.”
The training programme on hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles is being designed by a project collaboration across Europe. There has been an increasing demand for skilled labour in hydrogen vehicle technology but there has also been a lack of education and training programs.
The training programme will be accredited and implemented in the public educational system in Denmark and Scotland, the first EU countries to offer education in fuel cells and hydrogen vehicles. The courses will be open for both national and international students.
The FCH Train project will gather experience from Denmark, Belgium and Scotland as each has an area of excellence in fuel cell and hydrogen technology and convert it in to a new training and education program for technicians of hydrogen vehicles including cars, busses and trucks.
Knowledge and experiences gained will be shared among the European partners to create the training programme, which to be developed by a project consortium consisting of Aberdeen City Council, Ballard Power Systems Europe, Mercantec, Hydrogen Valley, and Van Hool.
The new training programme will firstly be tested in Denmark at the Auto Technical Center (ATC), which is part of the vocational and education and training (VET) school, Mercantec in Viborg.
The project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.