The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has approved €154.6 million in funding through its 2024 call to support 26 breakthrough projects aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies in Europe, with a total budget of €154.6 million. By focusing on key areas such as hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and applications, these projects will enhance the EU’s industrial competitiveness and drive hydrogen technologies closer to market readiness, playing a crucial role in boosting the EU’s industrial competitiveness and advancing hydrogen technology preparedness.
These projects cover the entire hydrogen value chain, bringing together partners from 33 countries to promote research cooperation and innovation, which will reshape energy systems in key areas ranging from industry to transportation and stationary applications.
1. Emphasis is placed on scaling up green hydrogen technologies, with several projects exploring innovative approaches such as seawater electrolysis, integrating solid oxide electrolyzers into steelmaking operations, and continuously improving electrolyzer performance. Projects like SWEEHY, SYRIUS, DELYCIOUS, ASTERISK, PEPPER, HyPrAEM, ENDURION, and HySEas are at the forefront of these innovations.
2. In the field of hydrogen storage and distribution, projects are exploring advanced methods such as metal hydride solid-state storage, improved purification and separation technologies, and underground hydrogen storage. REMEDHYS, Hermes, and HyDRA are among the projects focused on developing safer, more efficient, and scalable infrastructure.
3. Two stationary projects include InsigH2T and RESCUE. The former studies the pressure effects of hydrogen flames in turbines, while the latter has developed a 50kW fuel cell system using hydrogen or methanol.
4. In addition to technological advancements, several projects also emphasize sustainability, safety, and environmental impact. Projects such as GUESS Why, PROMISERS, FASTCH2ANGE, and ECOPEM are developing frameworks and tools to ensure the responsible and resilient deployment of hydrogen technologies.
5. The Partnership has also launched 5 new hydrogen valleys, receiving a total of €57.5 million in grants:
- HI2 Valley, covering industrial zones in Upper Austria, Styria, and Carinthia.
- CyLH2Valley, a large-scale hydrogen valley in the Castilla y León region of Spain, which will utilize hydrogen in transportation, industry, and energy sectors.
- HySPARK in Poland aims to develop a hydrogen ecosystem focusing on airports and public transportation.
- EASTGATEH2V will establish a comprehensive hydrogen ecosystem in the Košice region of Slovakia.
- Hyceland, located in Iceland, marks the northernmost hydrogen valley in the network.
These projects join the existing network of 21 hydrogen valleys, supported by approximately €253.3 million, with expected additional public and private investments exceeding €1.3 billion.
6. In terms of applications, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) is represented by projects such as NAVHYS and CleanH2Shipping, which focus on marine transportation fuel systems and hydrogen propulsion technologies for shipping. Other projects, like BeBoP and H2UpScale, are optimizing key fuel cell components, including air compression and humidification systems, to improve the efficiency of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles.
H2UpScale Project
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are considered one of the solutions for achieving long-term sustainable transportation. However, existing systems provide a power output of less than 200 kW. To meet the needs of the heavy-duty transportation sector, the development of next-generation fuel cell systems aims to create durable PEMFC stacks with a power output of 250-500 kW. To support this development, the H2UpScale project intends to design, build, test, and validate key BoP components for PEMFC systems with a power output exceeding 250 kW, suitable for heavy-duty transportation applications (aviation, maritime, long-haul road).
H2UpScale brings together 3 research institutions, 2 academic institutions, and 11 industrial partners, including BoP manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers. The project will identify application-specific requirements and then drive the development and optimization of 3 standards for modular and scalable PEMFC architectures ≥250 kW (power architecture and waste heat management system design). Key BoP components of focus include hydrogen injectors, hydrogen recirculation pumps, hydrogen leak sensors, air compressors, cathode air filters and humidifiers, water separators, exhaust resonators, coolant heat exchangers, and coolant media. Target improvements for BoP components include enhanced efficiency and durability, reduced weight and volume, and simplified architecture. The design of these components will be compatible with both single-stack and multi-stack platforms, while considering scalability and modularity to facilitate their integration into multi-megawatt systems. Selected full-scale BoP components will be validated on hardware-in-the-loop test benches, and a techno-economic analysis of the potential impact of the developed BoP components on the HD market will be conducted. With these main objectives, H2UpScale aims to provide key technical building blocks to create a TRL7 demonstration starting from 2027.
BeBoP (Upgrading and Optimization of BOP for High-Power Hydrogen Fuel Cell Systems)
Efficiency is improved by enhancing the BOP. The BeBoP project will comprehensively improve system efficiency and durability, and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of fuel cell systems for heavy-duty applications by providing and integrating improvements in key BoP components (air compression and humidification, and DC-DC conversion). Novel integrated cell monitoring combined with advanced modeling will lead to overall architectural and operational optimization. The project brings together key component developers already actively supplying BoP parts to the market (Garrett, Freudenberg, and Silver Atena), as well as the specialized powertrain division of heavy-duty truck manufacturer Iveco (FPT), and two leading European research institutions with a strong track record in fuel cell system development and modeling (SINTEF and DLR).
New key BoP components (air compressors, humidifiers, and DC/DC converters) will be developed from their current state of TRL 3 to TRL 5. Prototype components will be tested on fuel cell engines (for air compressors and DC/DC converters) or test benches (for humidifiers) to demonstrate their performance.
