Following its first call for ideas, The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has chosen 9 Hydrogen Valley projects (2022). The 9 Hydrogen Valleys have asked for a total of EUR 105.4 million in funding.
The projects will now begin the grant agreement discussions, which are anticipated to be finished by the summer. The initiatives cover a range of uses in the energy, transportation, and industrial sectors while concentrating on the production of clean hydrogen. The projects are anticipated to be able to attract investments worth at least five times the amount of money allocated by the EU, or more than EUR 0.5 billion.
By increasing green hydrogen production and supply in order to fulfill the rising demand from industry, transportation, and other sectors, Hydrogen Valleys contribute to the REPowerEU objectives. Through REPowerEU, the European Commission provided an additional €200 million to the Clean Hydrogen Partnership in order to increase the number of Hydrogen Valleys in Europe by 2025.
The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has begun the grant preparations for two flagship Hydrogen Valleys (projects of a scale significantly larger than what has been supported thus far, i.e., producing at least 5,000 tonnes of H2 annually, with interlinkages to other locations of hydrogen production and/or consumption outside project boundaries). The first will cover Croatia, Slovenia, and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy’s North Adriatic Sea, while the second intends to create a hydrogen corridor through nations bordering the Baltic Sea, including Estonia and South Finland.
34 organizations from government, research, and industry make up the partnership, which is led by the main producer of electricity in Slovenia, HSE, and is supported by ECUBES. It covers the entire value chain, from production to storage and distribution to final end use of hydrogen as a key energy vector in numerous sectors. A total of EUR 25 million in funding has been proposed through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.
44 organizations from the Baltic Sea region are gathered at the second transnational hydrogen valley. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has requested 25 million euros in funding.
Additionally, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership has begun the grant preparations for 7 smaller scale Hydrogen Valleys projects (at least 500 tonnes of H2 per year), concentrating on regions of Europe with no or limited H2 Valleys. They’ll each receive 8 million euros in funding. Regions from Bulgaria (Stara Zagora), Greece (Crete and Corinthia), Ireland (Galway), Italy (Lombardy), Turkey (South Marmara), and Luxembourg will be included in the valleys.
