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On the 1st of October, 2018, a working meeting of the DRONGENO project, "Solar Hydrogen for Drone Autonomy," took place. The meeting was held at the Centre for Automation and Robotics of CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), where project details and collaboration among the consortium members for its development were shared. The consortium consists of: Dronak, a company specialising in solutions with RPAs (Remotely Piloted Aircraft), also known as drones; ISFOC (Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems), a company belonging to the Castilla-La Mancha Finance Institute Group, dedicated to R&D in photovoltaic technologies, energy efficiency and smart sensors; and the Centre for Automation and Robotics of CSIC, dedicated to R&D in control engineering, computer vision and robotics.

Additionally, the project has external collaboration from the consulting firm AROSA I+D for project management tasks.

The main objective of the project is to develop an energy supply system for drones based on hydrogen that significantly increases their flight autonomy. Hydrogen generation will be carried out using photovoltaic electrical generation through electrolysis assisted with organic compounds, thereby reducing the contamination of current batteries and fuel cells due to PEM and alkaline electrolysis. Additionally, a new drone will be designed, incorporating a fuel cell combined with a lithium battery, merging both energy systems.

The project is funded by the Retos Colaboración Programme of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, under the file RTC-2017-6631-3.