Call for Proposals: Small-scale Hydrogen Valley

Hydrogen Valleys are hydrogen ecosystems that cover a specific geography ranging from local or regional focus (e.g. industrial cluster, ports, airports, etc.) to specific national or international regions (e.g. cross border hydrogen corridors)Hydrogen Valleys showcase the versatility of hydrogen by supplying several sectors in their geography such as mobility, industry and energy end uses. They are ecosystems or clusters where various final applications share a common hydrogen supply infrastructure. Across their geographic scope, Hydrogen Valleys cover multiple steps in the hydrogen value chain, ranging from hydrogen production (and often even dedicated renewables production) to the subsequent storage of hydrogen and distribution to off-takers via various modes of transport. Whilst most of the projects are in the EU, over the past years, Hydrogen Valleys have gone global, with new projects emerging worldwide. Mission Innovation has set a target of deploying 100 large-scale Hydrogen Valleys worldwide by 2030.

Scope

• The scope of this flagship topic is to develop and demonstrate a small-scale Hydrogen Valley. It could demonstrate a combination of technologies either in existing and/or new markets for clean hydrogen, especially when applications are used in symbiose with each other.
• Proposals should demonstrate innovative approaches at system level: systemic and synergetic integration of hydrogen production (not restricted to electrolysis), distribution and end-use technologies. Proposals may also investigate interoperability, cause-effect stability of the overall system. Technologies demonstrated should be state-of the-art following technological developments previously funded by (but not limited to) the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.
• Proposals should respond to the following requirements:
  • Production of at least 500 tonnes of clean hydrogen, per year using new hydrogen production capacity (at least for the last 2-years of project demonstration). Due to the large volumes of hydrogen involved, production plants may be distributed across the territories involved but should share common hydrogen supply infrastructure;
  • Use of the hydrogen produced to supply one or more end sector or application in the energy, industry, and transport sectors;
  • Monitoring and assessment activities including at least two years of operations;
  • Provision of a clear, professional, and ambitious communication plan to ensure high visibility to the public including clear, measurable, and ambitious Kery Performance Indicators (KPI);
  • Demonstration of how hydrogen enables sector coupling, allows for example H2 storage and/or large integration of renewable energy and provides an optimum techno economic solution for the decarbonisation of the activities in the geographical area being addressed;
  • Reduction of the carbon emissions and impact on air quality related to the end-uses compared to incumbent technologies;
  • Demonstration of how financial viability is expected to be reached after two years of operation.
• Proposals should also:
  • Provide concrete project implementation plans with a clear calendar, defining the key phases of the implementation of the action (i.e., preparation of the specifications of equipment, manufacturing, permitting, deployment, and operation) and their duration;
  • Provide a funding plan to ensure implementation of the project in synergies with other sources of funding. If no other sources of funding will be required, this should be stated clearly in the proposal, with a commitment from the partners to provide own funding. If additional sources of funding will be required, proposals should present a clear plan on which funding programmes at EU and/or national levels will be targeted [6]. In these cases, applicants should present a credible planning that includes forecasted funding programmes and their expected time of commitment;
  • Clearly and coherently present the Hydrogen Valley (across the whole value chain including hydrogen production, distribution and storage and end uses) including the investments/actions supported directly by this topic as well as other investments/actions supported by other funding /financing sources which are part of the hydrogen valley to be deployed and demonstrated in line with the topic requirements;
  • Provide evidence of the commitment and role of public authorities (Member States, Regions, and Cities) and of any other necessary stakeholders (e.g. hydrogen off-takers) at least in the form of Letters of Intent (LOI). The practical implementation of these LOI will be followed during the Grant Agreement implementation;
  • Provide a preliminary ‘hydrogen safety planning and management plan’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation;
  • Ensure coverage of aspects such as replicability and (cross-border) cooperation between regions to facilitate transfer of knowledge across the EU with a focus on fostering replication of Hydrogen Valleys elsewhere;
  • Demonstrate how synergies with existing hydrogen demonstration projects or hydrogen valleys will be ensured especially when it comes to skills and know-how exchange;
  • Provide a scalability analysis that includes the broader energy system showing how the valley is expected to grow, where applicable;
  • Highlight sustainability aspects in their description.

Expected Outcomes

• Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
  • Anchorage of new demand for renewable hydrogen;
  • Interaction and synergies among initial test beds;
  • Full integration into the broader cross-sectoral energy ecosystem;
  • Improvement of the perception of public towards hydrogen technologies, by ensuring a high visibility of the project and associated technologies to the local public and EU citizens, to connect initial demonstrations and to create synergies with existing energy infrastructure;
  • Emergence of new hydrogen valleys, through dissemination of learnings.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.
• A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe.

For more information, visit EC.