The calls include Innovation Actions (IA), Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) with funding rates up to 100%.
The Call addresses key priorities within different areas of research and innovation, with direct and quantified impact towards the objectives of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
The total 41 calls fall under the following areas:
Renewable Hydrogen Production (10 calls)
Funding for further improvements are required especially in cost reduction and efficiency increase for a variety of renewable hydrogen production routes, the main workhorse being electrolysis, supported by other routes exploiting direct sunlight such as thermal dissociation of water using concentrated solar energy or through photocatalysis, biomass/biogas or other biological routes.
Hydrogen Storage and Distribution (11 calls)
It is essential that hydrogen becomes an intrinsic part of an integrated energy system. In order for this to happen, hydrogen will have to be used for daily and/or seasonal storage providing buffering functions thereby enhancing security of supply in the medium term. The strategy also calls for an EU -wide logistical infrastructure that needs to be developed to transport hydrogen from areas with large renewable potential to demand centres across Europe.
Transport (8 calls)
The technology developments so far are not sufficient to meet the ambitious emission reductions in transport. The required solutions can be based on the transfer of technical knowledge already gained in fuel cell (FC) light duty vehicles (LDV) and FC buses, while cost reductions and higher efficiencies can be achieved by scaling and by process integration, improving the competitiveness of these technologies with a roll down effect, e.g. by platform approaches of FC modules across sectors.
Heat and Power (4 calls)
Support for European supply chain actors to develop a portfolio of solutions providing clean, renewable and flexible heat and power generation of or all end users’ needs and across all system sizes; from domestic systems all the way to large-scale power generation plants. Preferential support will be for solutions running on 100% hydrogen. However, there is still room to support solutions running on a hydrogen mixture in the gas grid (up to 20% within the context of the activities included in this support area) during the transition phase. For gas turbines, in order to enable a smooth transition and assure backward compatibility with conventional fuels during the transition, support for actions running with different hydrogen admixtures are likely to be required to facilitate the development process and to achieve the final goal of 100% hydrogen turbines
Cross-cutting (5 calls)
Cross-cutting activities are structured around three focus areas: (i) Sustainability; (ii) Education and public awareness; and (iii) Safety, pre-normative research and regulations, codes and standards.
Hydrogen Valleys (2 calls)
A Hydrogen Valley is ‘a defined geographical area, city, region or industrial area where several hydrogen applications are combined together and integrated within an FCH ecosystem ’. The idea is to demonstrate how all the different parts of the use of hydrogen as an energy vector fit together in an integrated system approach. This concept has gained momentum and is now one of the main priorities of industry and the European Commission (EC) for scaling-up hydrogen deployments and creating interconnected hydrogen ecosystems across Europe.
Strategic Research challenge (1 call)
Relevant strategic research challenges:
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Low or free platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts (including bioinspired catalysts), reducing critical (raw) materials use in electrolysers and fuel cells, and safe and sustainable use of all material, including developing of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFAS) - free ionomers and membranes;
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Advanced materials for hydrogen storage (e.g. carbon fibres, H2 carriers);
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Advanced understanding of the performance / durability mechanisms of electrolysers and fuel cells.
The topics will be grouped into 10 Innovation Actions (IA), 29 Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and 2 Coordination and Support Actions (CSA). 6 Innovation Actions (IA) are considered of strategic importance and are selected as flagship projects, expected to have a significant impact in accelerating the transition to a hydrogen economy.
Synergies with other European partnerships and programmes, as well as with Member States and regional programmes are at the core of a number of topics.
The individual calls are found on the EC Funding and Tenders portal:
For more detailed information on the call, you can contact us directly. We will gladly help you further!
Roumiana Atanassova, roumiana.atanassova@grannenfeltfinance.fi, tel. +358 40 6815 068
