Nine hydrogen valley projects get EUR 105.4m of EU funding

The EU’s Clean Hydrogen Partnership this week announced EUR 105.4 million (USD 115.8m) in funding for nine hydrogen valleys across Europe.

The projects were selected after the Clean Hydrogen Partnership’s first call for proposals and will now enter into negotiations over their grant agreements, which are expected to be completed before the summer.

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The nine projects include two larger flagship hydrogen valleys that will be able to produce at least 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year and are poised to receive EUR 25 million each, as well as seven smaller-scale projects that will each be funded with EUR 8 million.

The flagship projects include the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, which is a partnership between Slovenia, Croatia and the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and is led by Slovenian electricity producer Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE). The project covers the production of green hydrogen from renewable energy sources, its storage, distribution and use.

The second flagship valley aims to build a hydrogen corridor across Baltic Sea countries, including Estonia and South Finland.

The smaller projects are located in Bulgaria (Stara Zagora), Greece (Crete and Corinthia), Ireland (Galway), Italy (Lombardy), Turkey (South Marmara) and Luxembourg.

“These 9 valleys will be planting the seeds of the envisioned hydrogen economy, incubating hydrogen valley hubs simultaneously at several EU MS, interconnecting and transitioning them into a growth value chain at scale,” said Melyssa Verykios, chair of the Governing Board of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.

The partnership is the successor of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU). It is a public-private partnership that provides support for hydrogen innovation under the Horizon Europe Programme. Its members are the European Commission, industry group Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research.

In January, Clean Hydrogen Partnership launched a EUR-195-million call for proposals for the development of clean hydrogen technologies.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.099)