Clean Hydrogen Partnership: Call for proposals

The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is a public-private partnership encouraging and supporting research and innovation in the field of hydrogen technologies in Europe.

In an unprecedented drive to support the creation of cutting-edge hydrogen technologies, a total of EUR 195 million will be made available for relevant projects. The January 2023 call for proposals was published on 17 January 2023, with an application deadline of 18 April 2023.

With this call, the EU aims to support research and innovation, with a direct and measurable impact in achieving the objectives of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.

Topics available

Key areas for the allocation of funding are detailed below:

• Renewable hydrogen production: Seven topics—EUR 49 million.

• Hydrogen storage and distribution: Five topics—EUR 36 million.

• Transport: Three topics—EUR 25.5 million. • Heat and power (manufacturing, gas turbines, fuel diversification, etc.): Four topics—EUR 19 million.

• Cross-cutting (safety aspects, test methods, monitoring devices, etc.): Three topics—EUR 7.5 million.

• Hydrogen valleys (complete value chain of hydrogen at large scale, sector coupling, stimulate hydrogen production in areas of Europe with no or limited presence, etc.): Two topics—EUR 38 million.

• Strategic research challenges (addressing the sustainability and criticality of electrolyser and fuel cell materials): Two topics—EUR 20 million.
  

These topics will be split into 11 innovation actions, 13 research and innovation actions, and two coordination and support actions.Five of the innovation actions are considered of strategic importance and are selected as flagship projects, expected to have a significant impact in accelerating the transition to a hydrogen economy.

The REPowerEU initiative has set a target of 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen produced and imported by 2030, signifying a market of 20 million tonnes per year by the end of the decade. 

Eligibility criteria

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third jurisdictions or international organisations, is eligible to participate in the call, provided that the conditions laid down in the regulations governing the Horizon Europe programme have been met, along with any other specific conditions laid down in the call topic.

Additional eligibility criteria

For some topics, a cap on the requested contribution by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership has been introduced (generally for actions performed at high technology readiness levels). This use of this cap is expected to leverage cofunding as a commitment from stakeholders.

For topics targeting actions for large-scale demonstrations, flagship projects, and strategic research actions, at least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research. 

How can we assist?

If you are looking for funding opportunities for your project, Deloitte Belgium’s experienced Gi³ team can provide complete assistance from project evaluation and feasibility analysis through to full support in proposal preparation and submission. Do not hesitate to reach out to the contacts below for further information.