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A vision for Iran’s fuel cell and hydrogen development

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Abstract

Hydrogen combined with fuel cell (FC) technology has been widely discussed as a long-term fuel option to address environmental and energy security concerns. Iran, despite outlining a long-term plan to develop its renewable energies’ (REs) infrastructures, is faced with difficulties in deploying fuel cell hydrogen (FCH). These obstacles—led by lack of adequate funding—have caused a slowdown in the government-driven initiatives in recent years, thus resulting in projects delays and suspensions. This paper focuses on current status of Iran’s FCH within and among leading and neighboring countries. Barriers and challenges of the three main actors (government, university, and industry) on Iran’s FCH development are analyzed and then supported with a policy perspective. It is shown that the government obligations play a significant role to overcome these obstacles and also act as the main driving force to perform the required actions. The paper also proposes strategic measures in a short-, medium-, and long-term framework to promote the technology in Iran in hopes of a clear national policy and a proper vision. It is shown that the responsibility for the short- and medium-term actions lies predominantly upon the government while it will be fully devolved to the private sector in the long term.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support and contributions of Iran’s Ministry of Energy and Renewable Energies Organization of Iran (SUNA) for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Engineering Department, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran

    M. Alipour

  2. Sustainable Energies Group, AUT Office of Sustainability, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

    M. Alipour

  3. Department of Industrial Engineering, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran

    A. Sheykhan

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  1. M. Alipour
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Correspondence to M. Alipour.

Abbreviations

FC

Fuel cell

FCEV

Fuel cell electric vehicle

FCH

Fuel cell hydrogen

FCSC

Fuel cell steering committee

MCFC

Molten carbonate fuel cell

PEMFC

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

RD&D

Research, development, and demonstration

RE

Renewable energy

SOFC

Solid oxide fuel cell

SUNA

Renewable Energy Organization of Iran

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Alipour, M., Sheykhan, A. A vision for Iran’s fuel cell and hydrogen development. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 14, 193–210 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-016-1102-4

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