16–17 June 2026 | Turin, Italy – Partners of the DELYCIOUS project gathered in Turin for the project’s third Plenary Meeting and General Assembly, hosted by DUMAREY. The meeting provided an opportunity to review progress across the project’s technical activities and prepare for the next phase of development, with encouraging results emerging from lab-scale testing campaigns and important achievements in hardware integration, digital tools, and large-scale deployment preparation.
Advancing Lab-Scale Validation Across PEMEL, SOEL and AEL Technologies
The project has reached a significant stage in its lab-scale validation activities, marking steady progress towards the deployment of advanced diagnostic and monitoring solutions for water electrolysers.
Following the publication of the project’s harmonised testing protocol for laboratory demonstrations, partners have continued the integration and commissioning of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Raman spectroscopy technologies across alkaline (AEL), solid oxide (SOEL), and proton exchange membrane (PEMEL) electrolysis platforms.
The Raman and EIS diagnostic systems have now been successfully installed and commissioned on the AEL test bench, while Raman deployment and measurement campaigns have also been completed on the SOEL platform. Integration activities on the PEMEL platform are progressing towards full operational readiness. Together, these achievements represent an important step towards establishing a common diagnostic framework capable of operating across multiple electrolyser technologies.
At Stargate, long-duration AEL testing combined online Raman monitoring with regular EIS measurements under varying operating conditions, generating valuable insights into electrolyser behaviour and degradation trends. At the University of Twente, a dedicated SOEL testing campaign successfully combined advanced diagnostic measurements with demanding operating profiles, producing high-quality datasets for diagnostic development and validation.
The results obtained so far demonstrate the ability of DELYCIOUS monitoring tools to track performance evolution, identify operational differences, and provide deeper insight into electrolyser health and durability. These datasets will play a crucial role in the project’s next phase of algorithm development (which has been partly developed) and validation.
Transforming Diagnostic Data into Digital Intelligence
Building on the growing quality volume of experimental data generated across all three electrolysis technologies, DELYCIOUS is developing the digital tools needed to transform measurements into valuable data for monitoring.
Project partners have successfully developed high-fidelity physical models for AEL, SOEL, and PEMEL systems, enabling rapid simulation and analysis of electrolyser behaviour under different operating conditions. These models are being complemented by advanced state-estimation and data-driven methodologies capable of extracting information that cannot be directly measured during operation.
For electrolyser operators, such capabilities are particularly valuable, as the internal states connected to the electrolysis stacks’ state of health often remains difficult to observe and/or not directly extractable once systems are deployed in the field. By combining advanced diagnostics, physical modelling, and statistical algorithms, DELYCIOUS aims to provide deeper visibility into system behaviour and support future predictive maintenance strategies.
Recent proof-of-concept demonstrations using both synthetic and experimental datasets have successfully validated the overall approach. Further refinement and validation activities are now underway across all technologies, laying the foundations for the project’s future diagnostic and predictive capabilities.
Preparing for Industrial Deployment and Large-Scale Validation
While lab-scale validation continues, DELYCIOUS is simultaneously preparing for the next stage of development: large-scale validation in industrially relevant environments.
Following technical assessment activities at Fraunhofer IWES’s Hydrogen Lab Leuna, project partners have made substantial progress in defining the requirements for large-scale deployment of EIS diagnostics and in developing the architecture needed to combine Raman and EIS data within a unified monitoring framework.
In parallel, significant progress has been achieved in the development of the project’s prototype Energy Management System (EMS). The software architecture has been completed and core functionalities are now being implemented, including sensor connectivity, data acquisition, visualisation tools, and information management capabilities. Together, these developments will provide the digital infrastructure required to integrate diagnostic devices, process operational data, and support future decision-making functionalities.
The upcoming large-scale validation phase will demonstrate how advanced diagnostics, predictive analytics, and EMS capabilities can operate together within real hydrogen production environments. This will represent a major step towards delivering reliable, cost-efficient, and scalable diagnostic solutions for next-generation electrolyser installations.
Engaging with Scientific and Industrial Communities
Alongside its technical activities, DELYCIOUS continues to actively engage with stakeholders across the European hydrogen ecosystem.
A recent highlight was the public webinar “Advancing Online Diagnostics and Building Durable Electrolysis Systems for Europe’s Hydrogen Future”, jointly organised with the ELECTROLIFE project and attended by more than 120 participants from research organisations, industry, policymaking bodies, and the wider hydrogen value chain.
Project partners have also presented DELYCIOUS at several major events, including Hydrogen Technology Expo Europe, the ILES Workshop organised by Fraunhofer IWES, and the cH2ance Showcase Workshop organised by HORIBA FuelCon. These activities reflect the consortium’s commitment to sharing knowledge, gathering stakeholder feedback, and fostering collaboration across the rapidly evolving hydrogen sector.
In addition, the project’s quasi-harmonised testing protocol for low- and high-temperature electrolysis has been published on Zenodo, providing a valuable resource for researchers and technology developers. With high-quality datasets now emerging from the project’s validation campaigns, further scientific publications are expected in the next phases of the project.
Exploring Digital Validation and Control Technologies at DUMAREY
As part of the plenary meeting programme, project partners visited DUMAREY’s engineering facilities in Turin to learn more about the company’s expertise in control systems, simulation, and validation technologies.
The visit showcased how physical hardware, sensors, control units, and virtual system models can be combined to test system behaviour, reproduce operational issues, and validate control strategies before deployment. These model-based development approaches are widely used in hydrogen and mobility applications to improve reliability and performance.
For DELYCIOUS, the visit provided valuable insight into methodologies that align with the project’s work on diagnostic algorithms and the development of its EMS. By sharing its experience in simulation-driven engineering and system validation, DUMAREY highlighted how advanced digital tools can support the future deployment of intelligent electrolyser monitoring and management solutions.