The European Commission has awarded €25 million in funding to a consortium with 29 airports, airlines, knowledge institutes and industrial partners called TULIPS, led by Royal Schiphol Group. The funding is part of the European Green Deal, to develop innovations that facilitate the transition to low-carbon mobility and enhance sustainability at airports. One of the planned projects is the development of a HGPU (Hydrogen Ground Power Unit) by zepp.solutions.

A GPU is used to provide electric power to an aircraft when it is  stationary on the ground. In the hydrogen GPU that will be developed by zepp.solutions, the conventional diesel engine in the GPU will be replaced with a hydrogen powertrain. Diesel-GPU’s are currently responsible for more than a third of  the total diesel consumption of ground support equipment on airfields. The proposed zero emission hydrogen powered HGPU is therefore a very promising candidate to significantly reduce emissions of airport ground operations.