The world’s first hydrogen solar park is set to open near Namur in Belgium next year. As well as generating electricity from solar panels, the site will produce hydrogen using hydrogen panels. Four companies formalised their cooperation on the project on Wednesday.

The technology that allows hydrogen to be produced from sunlight and moisture in the air was developed at KU Leuven more than a decade ago. The Leuven start-up Solhyd, founded by researchers involved in that work, has since transformed the concept into a working hydrogen panel.

Each panel contains cylinders with materials that extract water vapour from the air and split it into hydrogen and oxygen using a membrane. The hydrogen is collected, while the oxygen is released back into the atmosphere. The process is entirely free from fossil fuels and requires no rare materials or conventional electrolysers, making it a fully “green” technology.