The core task for the student is to directly contribute to addressing this data gap. This involves collecting qualitative data by actively seeking out and interviewing asset owners of hydrogen installations. This data collection will take place both within the Netherlands and potentially internationally.
The goal is to map practical experiences, including successes, challenges, and bottlenecks encountered in the maintenance of these assets. By bundling and analyzing this collected knowledge, the assignment aims to:
- Gain valuable insights into current maintenance strategies being employed.
- Identify best practices and lessons learned in the early stages of hydrogen infrastructure maintenance.
- Develop recommendations for effective future asset management strategies in the hydrogen sector.
Research Question
The project aims to gain early insights into the practical aspects of maintaining hydrogen infrastructure, especially given the current lack of extensive historical data. The core questions that need to be addressed through this assignment are:
- How do the hydrogen installations perform over time and is this performance in line with the expectations of the plant?
- What is the costs of a kg of hydrogen from the plant now the plant is operational?
- How is maintenance currently being performed on hydrogen assets, and what maintenance strategies are asset owners applying?
- What are the biggest maintenance challenges faced by asset owners of hydrogen installations, and what solutions or approaches have proven effective in addressing these challenges?
- What practical lessons can be learned from the current experiences of asset owners regarding the maintenance, reliability, and expected lifespan of hydrogen installations?
The underlying research question is focused on understanding the performance, current state of maintenance practices, challenges, and early lessons learned in the emerging hydrogen sector to inform the development of effective, data-driven maintenance and asset management strategies for the future.
Desired Student Skills
We are looking for an enthusiastic and driven student with a passion for sustainable energy and technical maintenance. To successfully carry out this assignment, the following skills and attributes are desired:
- Enthusiasm and Drive: A proactive and motivated attitude towards the research topic and the task of data collection.
- Communication & Interviewing Skills: Ability to confidently approach, connect with, and conduct effective interviews with technical professionals and asset owners in the industry to extract relevant qualitative information.
- Interest in Sustainable Energy & Technical Maintenance: Genuine interest in the field of hydrogen technology and its maintenance challenges is essential.
- Analytical Skills: Capability to process, structure, and analyze qualitative interview data to identify patterns, recurring challenges, successes, and key insights.
- Independence & Initiative: Ability to work independently, identify relevant contacts (asset owners), plan and execute the data collection process, potentially involving international outreach.
- Report Writing & Recommendation Formulation: Ability to synthesize findings into a clear report and formulate actionable recommendations for maintenance practices and asset management.
- Technical Affinity: Sufficient understanding or willingness to quickly learn about the technical context of hydrogen production installations to engage effectively with asset owners.
Supervision
The student will be supervised by a team of researchers from the lectorates of Renewable Energy Carriers and Smart Energy of MNEXT:
- Rima Mahmoud – Chemical technology
- Jeroen van Gerwen – Technical business administration
- Sander van Gameren – Energy systems and control
General information
- Starting date: 01-09-2025
- Finishing date: After 20 weeks
- Language: Be Dutch proficient and have decent speaking/writing mastery of English.