Vätterhem developing new self-sufficient hydrogen powered housing

The Swedish municipal housing provider plans to use fuel cell tech for fully off the grid apartments.

Vätterhem, a municipal housing provider in Sweden, plans to build hydrogen powered housing. This apartment building will be self-sufficient, 100 percent off the grid, and will use fuel cell technology to do it.

The firm will be working with several companies to help bring this novel construction project to reality.

Vätterhem, based in Jönköping, Sweden, will be working with a spectrum of other businesses to build this novel hydrogen powered housing project. It has already started working with the Yellon Environmental Aesthetic Housing (YEAH) company for its development.

“The development of good housing with a smaller climate footprint and improved economy has to begin somewhere.,” said CEO Thorbjörn Hammerth. The roofs, glazing and building facades will feature various forms of solar panels. Electricity generated through the photovoltaic cells will be stored in batteries for availability on demand.

The hydrogen powered housing will make it possible for renewable energy throughout the winter.

As solar power is considerably more limited during the winter months when days are shorter and snow can cover panels, the intention is to use fuel cell technology to fill the gap. Stored H2 will be converted into heat and electricity using fuel cells. YEAH has already been working on developing this technology in collaboration with Research Institute Sweden (RISE). That organization was the leader in a digital simulation and feasibility study on the concept.

Hydrogen powered housing already exists in Japan, but this project will adapt it for the Netherlands.

“There have been fuel cell technology projects for housing in Japan for many years, and recently a large EU project was launched to create a hydrogen gas community in the Netherlands, where national strategies and action plans for hydrogen gas have also been developed,” explained RISE manager of hydrogen technology, Anna Alexandersson.

She also added that the Vätterhem YEAH project will become the first hydrogen powered housing project in the world that takes apartment buildings entirely off the grid. “This project will put Sweden on the world map within hydrogen gas systems for real estate and will most likely attract great interest internationally,” said Alexandersson.