Chapter 2: Green hydrogen

Welcome back to our “EU Funding Digest” series, where we try to make more accessible the understanding of EU funding opportunities available for a specific topic! 

We are mapping EU-funding opportunities, mainly calls for proposals, on the main EU funding Programmes under the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027. We will investigate funds directly managed by the EU, such as Horizon Europe, LIFE, CERV, Erasmus+, the Single Market Programme, the InvestEU Programme and the Just Transition Fund, as well as shared or indirectly managed funds such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The research and mapping of funds are targeted towards the specific topic addressed by each chapter.

The focus of this chapter is green hydrogen. As this is quite a broad topic involving many sectors and funds typologies, we will continue to analyse green hydrogen also in the upcoming chapters of this series. Let’s start!

Thematic focus

This second chapter is focused on EU funding opportunities related to green hydrogen, from its production to its use and storage, to the infrastructures and communities. Before diving deep into the available funding opportunities, an introductory context is needed.

Hydrogen is one of the most promising fuels, hence its production escalated exponentially over the last few years. The turning point in the economy around hydrogen can be identified in the set priorities of decarbonising our economy and striving for a climate-neutral Europe. Typically, hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels (mostly methane), with emissions ranging from 6.6 to 9.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Its potential is widely recognised as a chemical reagent and energy carrier, and its demand is expected to increase by 300% from 2021 to 2050 [1]. Referring to the European context, hydrogen represents around 2% of the EU’s energy mix and nearly all of it (97%) is produced from fossil fuels [2].  Thanks to years of scientific and technical research, new technologies were developed allowing the production and use of green hydrogen. However, there are many challenges still to overcome to unlock the full potential of this renewable energy source.

Quick zoom: Clean Hydrogen or Green Hydrogen?

There are many different types of hydrogen. Hydrogen is usually categorised depending on its production process and the connected Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions derived from its production processes.
In most cases, clean hydrogen and green hydrogen indicate the same typology of hydrogen produced from the electrolysis of water by using electricity from renewable sources, meaning that no fossil fuels are involved and no GHGs are emitted during this process. Electrolysis uses electricity to split water (H₂O) into hydrogen (H₂) and oxygen (O₂) in a unit called electrolyser. The only by-products are vapour and oxygen.
In other cases, a small distinction can be made between the two terms. Clean hydrogen can be generated both from renewable sources and fossil fuels, but its impacts are mitigated using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, without carbon emissions. Green hydrogen is solely produced from renewable sources, such as solar or wind power.
In this article and the mapping of available funds, we do not apply the latter distinction, as it would go into too much detail. We consider the terminology green hydrogen equal to clean hydrogen, referring to hydrogen produced from renewable sources and not contributing to GHG emissions.

Green hydrogen is mainly used as a fuel through the application of “hydrogen fuel cells” (HFCs), which are similar to batteries, but do not need recharging and do not run down. They produce electricity and heat as long as the fuel (i.e. hydrogen) is supplied, with only water as a by-product. Research and development (R&D) and industries are constantly studying HFC systems, as there are still critical technical barriers to this system, namely cost, performance and durability factors. Hence, the EU is allocating funds through different programmes to support R&D and industry in finding solutions to improve such a promising system.

Another great challenge related to green hydrogen is the infrastructure and distribution network. An important step of the chain to ensure the uptake of hydrogen fuel cell technologies and vehicles (HFCVs) are hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS). Until the HFCs do not become a mainstream technology, the density of HRS is likely to remain low. Since 2017, the EU structured a dedicated common real-time availability system monitoring the HRS availability for HFCV users, mapping its scaling up by size and availability. In 2020-2024, the “HRS availability map” system is publicly available and constantly updated at this link. 

Speaking of infrastructure and distribution networks, we need to mention the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and the Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) policies. 

Quick zoom: TEN-T policy and TEN-E policy

The TEN-T policy is a key instrument for planning and developing a coherent, efficient, multimodal and high-quality transport infrastructure across the EU. This network includes railways, inland waterways, short sea shipping routes and roads linking urban nodes, maritime and inland ports, airports and terminals. The network is structured in three layers:
i) the core network, including the most important connections between major cities and nodes, which must be completed by 2030;
ii) the extended core network, which must be completed by 2040;
iii) the comprehensive network, connecting all the regions of the EU to the core network, which needs to be completed by 2050.
The TEN-T governance created 9 TEN-T corridors and 2 horizontal priorities to support the completion of the trans-European transport network.
The TEN-E policy focuses on linking the energy infrastructure of EU countries and enabled the creation of 11 priority corridors and 3 priority thematic areas. The 2022 revision contributes to cross-border energy infrastructure rules and EU emissions reduction objectives by promoting the integration of renewables and new clean energy technologies into the energy system. TEN-E covers electricity, offshore grid and hydrogen infrastructure.

An interesting resource developed by a joint initiative of ENTSOG, GIE, EUROGAS, CEDEC, GD4S, and GEODE is monitoring the hydrogen projects and infrastructures through an online map, accessible at this link.

The framework

Within the EU Green Deal, a dedicated set of measures has been directed towards the energy sector, to support the clean energy transition. Another boost to producing clean energy came as of May 2022, when the EU launched the REPowerEU Plan to address the global energy market disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, phasing out Russian fossil fuel imports. To tackle this joint effort, the REPowerEU Plan set a target of 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen production and 10 million tonnes of imports by 2030. 

Through the EU Green Deal, the EU supports the clean energy transition with three key principles:

1. Ensuring a secure and affordable EU energy supply
2. Developing a fully integrated, interconnected and digitalised EU energy market
3. Prioritising energy efficiency, improving the energy performance of our buildings and developing a power sector based largely on renewable sources

As part of the energy actions, in 2020 the EU adopted the EU Hydrogen Strategy (COM/2020/301), an extensive package tackling 20 key actions grouped under four main areas:

1. An investment agenda for the EU
2. Boosting demand for and scaling up production
3. Designing an enabling and supportive framework
4. The international dimension

All key actions in detail with follow-up information and links are accessible at this link. 

To support the delivery of the Green Deal, the “FitFor55” extensive package of legislation under the EU climate law was adopted to boost the reduction of the EU net GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030. The ‘Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)’, the ‘Renewable Energy Directive’ and the ‘Updated EU rules to decarbonise gas markets and promote hydrogen’ are only some of the legislations adopted under FitFor55. The Renewable Energy Directive is indeed one of the instruments promoting renewable hydrogen, or the European Hydrogen Bank, a dedicated financing instrument launched in 2022 by the Commission to accelerate the establishment of a full hydrogen value chain in the EU, unlock private investments along the value chain and create investment security.

Quick zoom: What is the hydrogen value chain?

The terminology “value chain” refers to a whole set of technologies and processes that range from the production of a specific resource, in this case hydrogen, to the destination use of the resource. In the case of hydrogen, the hydrogen value chain is defined as the whole chain from the production of the renewable energy used to produce hydrogen, the production of hydrogen, its distribution and storage, and the different hydrogen applications.

The EC launched a wide variety of industrial, funding, research and innovation initiatives on hydrogen:

• The Clean Hydrogen Partnership
• The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance
• The Hydrogen Public Funding Compass

While it is important to keep the European framework in mind, it is an understatement to say that the regional and local ecosystems are mostly affected by the implications and challenges of implementing hydrogen-based value chains. To boost regional innovation and the capacity of local realities to have maximum benefit from such value chains, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership supports regional innovation and regional ecosystem development, through initiatives such as Hydrogen Valleys. To get to know more about how Hydrogen Valleys were developed from Hydrogen Regions, visit this website. 

Current funding opportunities

Access our mapped opportunities at this link!

The mapped funding opportunities are mainly “calls for proposals”, which you can access through each link in the document and whose terms and conditions for eligibility and participation must be read carefully. 

Within the mapped opportunities, you can find Horizon Europe Research & Innovation Actions, Innovation Actions and Coordination and Support Actions, covering different technology levels and scopes. An important slot was dedicated to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, as it is an important source of funding for infrastructure projects connected to the TEN-T and TEN-E policies.

Two different opportunities mapped are related to the Joint Research Centre (JRC) initiative to offer access to its non-nuclear facilities, and the call for tenders of the Clean Hydrogen JU for Hydrogen Valleys Facilities. As tenders have a different functioning mechanism compared to calls for proposals, please read carefully the terms of reference.

We strongly recommend keeping an eye out on the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, publishing a yearly call for proposals accessible at this link. The 2024 call for proposals closed in April and another one is expected to open in January 2025, with an expected deadline around April 2025.

The Hydrogen Public Funding Compass is also another interesting resource, as it is an online guide for stakeholders to identify public funding sources for hydrogen projects.

In addition to these, we described and linked some shared management grants (mainly ERDFs) that you can refer to through your region/central management at national level.

Next steps

Stay tuned for our next EU Funding Digest Chapter, foreseen by the end of September!

If you are interested in inclusion, do not miss out on our next EU Funding Digest chapter. We prepared a short questionnaire for you to express your interest in developing or joining a project on this specific topic with us, and to give your opinion on the topics for the next chapters. Access the questionnaire here!

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References 

[1] Bonheure, M., Vandewalle, L.A., Marin, G.B., Van Geem, K.M. (2021). Dream or reality? Electrification of the Chemical Process Industries. CEP Magazine, American Institute of Chemical Engineers: https://www.aiche-cep.com/cepmagazine/march_2021/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1663852#articleId1663852

[2] European Parliament (2023, July 12). Renewable hydrogen: what are the benefits for the EU?. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20210512STO04004/renewable-hydrogen-what-are-the-benefits-for-the-eu#:~:text=There%20are%20various%20types%20of,greenhouse%20gases%20during%20its%20production.