The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has selected 9 Hydrogen Valley projects following its first call proposals (2022). The total funding requested for the 9 Hydrogen Valleys amounts to EUR 105.4 million.
The University of Rijeka, along with its partners, the Faculty of Engineering in Rijeka and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture of the University of Split, has become a part of the great North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project.
Hydrogen Valleys contribute to the REPowerEU objectives by scaling up green hydrogen production, supply and consequently to meet the growing demand from industry, transport, and other sectors. The European Commission allocated to the Clean Hydrogen Partnership an additional €200 million through REPowerEU, to double the number of Hydrogen Valleys in Europe by 2025.
Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: I congratulate the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the selected Hydrogen Valleys for supporting the path to a leading and competitive European economy. The results of the call show a strong mobilisation across Europe – North, South, East, West – and a clear demonstration of alignment of strategies and the use of synergies between public and private funding. We need it to build a Hydrogen Research and Innovation Union.
The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has started the grant preparations for 2 flagship Hydrogen Valleys (projects of a scale significantly larger to what has been supported to date – i.e., producing at least 5,000 H2 tonnes/year, with interlinkages to other places of hydrogen production and/or consumptions outside project boundaries). The first will be spread across the North Adriatic area (comprising Croatia, the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, and Slovenia) and the second aims to build a hydrogen corridor across Baltic Sea countries, including Estonia and South Finland. The other transnational hydrogen valley gathers 44 organisations from regions around the Baltic Sea. The amount of financing requested through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership is EUR 25 million.
Stephen Taylor, Director of Research and Innovation at Area Science Park and Coordinator of the Project Proposal Team of the Joint Working Group for the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley said: The governments of the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Slovenia and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, together with lead partner HSE and the entire partnership warmly welcome the selection by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership of the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project, a flagship initiative in Central-Southern Europe which will facilitate the transition towards an integrated ecosystem involving industry, energy and transport sectors, and enhance cooperation in research and innovation, to develop a hydrogen supply chain. We are looking forward to starting the negotiations for the EU grant agreement and we hope to kickstart this exciting and important project as soon as possible.
The partnership, led by main Slovenian electricity producer HSE, supported by ECUBES, includes 34 organisations from Government, Research, and Industry, and covers the entire value chain from production through storage and distribution to final end use of hydrogen as a key energy vector in multiple sectors. The amount of financing requested through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership is EUR 25 million.
The whole article is available on the official website of the European Commission.