European commission
Updated July 2020
Current Status
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Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmaps
Hydrogen Roadmap Europe (January 2019)
A Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate-Neutral Europe (08 June 2020)
Initiatives, Programs, and Policies
1. New Policy Initiatives on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell
Hydrogen plays a central role in achieving the main objective of the European Green Deal and is one of the key sectors contributing to the European Economic Recovery Plan. In this context, important initiatives and activities are taking place in the EU such as:
- The proposed Clean Hydrogen Partnership under Horizon Europe. There has been an inter-institutional agreement on the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe. A partnership in the area of hydrogen and fuel cells named ‘Clean Hydrogen’ is included in the list of potential initiatives proposed by the European Commission. The impact assessment study is still in progress.
- The New Industrial Strategy for Europe (adopted on 10 March) with the proposal to launch a European Clean Hydrogen Alliance + the following launch of potential Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on hydrogen. IPCEI is a new instrument to access public funding that is compatible with EU state aid rules.
- The ongoing work on communication on Energy Systems Integration. Hydrogen is prominent in Energy System Integration – the coordinated planning and operation of the energy system “as a whole,” across multiple energy carriers, infrastructures, and consumption sectors – and will play a pivotal role in the pathway to an effective, affordable and deep decarbonisation of the European economy.
- The preparation of communication on a European Hydrogen Strategy. This strategy encompasses all dimensions of hydrogen’s potential and policies, in particular R&I, energy, climate, industry and environmental policies and will also address the investment challenge
- The latter three initiatives will be part on a comprehensive policy package to be adopted beginning of July 2020.
- Finally, the adoption on 27 May of the Communication on "Europe's moment: Repair and Prepare for the Next Generation", which highlights in particular the important role of hydrogen in the EU economic recovery plan. The Commission will focus on unlocking investment in clean technologies and value chains. The €750bn economic recovery package is focused around the European Green Deal, and highlights “the rolling out renewable energy projects, especially wind, solar and kick-starting a clean hydrogen economy in Europe”. The new Strategic Investment Facility will invest in technologies that are key for the clean energy transition, such as renewable and energy storage technologies, clean hydrogen, batteries, carbon capture and storage and sustainable energy infrastructure.
Research and Development
1. New Policy Initiatives on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell
Hydrogen plays a central role in achieving the main objective of the European Green Deal and is one of the key sectors contributing to the European Economic Recovery Plan. In this context, important initiatives and activities are taking place in the EU such as:
- The proposed Clean Hydrogen Partnership under Horizon Europe. There has been an inter-institutional agreement on the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe. A partnership in the area of hydrogen and fuel cells named ‘Clean Hydrogen’ is included in the list of potential initiatives proposed by the European Commission. The impact assessment study is still in progress.
- The New Industrial Strategy for Europe (adopted on 10 March) with the proposal to launch a European Clean Hydrogen Alliance + the following launch of potential Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on hydrogen. IPCEI is a new instrument to access public funding that is compatible with EU state aid rules.
- The ongoing work on communication on Energy Systems Integration. Hydrogen is prominent in Energy System Integration – the coordinated planning and operation of the energy system “as a whole,” across multiple energy carriers, infrastructures, and consumption sectors – and will play a pivotal role in the pathway to an effective, affordable and deep decarbonisation of the European economy.
- The preparation of communication on a European Hydrogen Strategy. This strategy encompasses all dimensions of hydrogen’s potential and policies, in particular R&I, energy, climate, industry and environmental policies and will also address the investment challenge
- The latter three initiatives will be part on a comprehensive policy package to be adopted beginning of July 2020.
- Finally, the adoption on 27 May of the Communication on "Europe's moment: Repair and Prepare for the Next Generation", which highlights in particular the important role of hydrogen in the EU economic recovery plan. The Commission will focus on unlocking investment in clean technologies and value chains. The €750bn economic recovery package is focused around the European Green Deal, and highlights “the rolling out renewable energy projects, especially wind, solar and kick-starting a clean hydrogen economy in Europe”. The new Strategic Investment Facility will invest in technologies that are key for the clean energy transition, such as renewable and energy storage technologies, clean hydrogen, batteries, carbon capture and storage and sustainable energy infrastructure.
Demonstration, Deployments, and Workforce Developments
- Ca. 2458[1] FCEVs (including range extenders, i.e. Symbio) deployed in Europe, out of which 839[2] through the FCH 2 JU (mainly via H2ME, H2ME2 projects and ZEFER project).
- Ca. 81 FC buses in operation, of which 59[3] through FCH JU and more than 300 (via FCH 2 JU mainly through JIVE and JIVE 2 projects) in planning/development stage.
- Ca. 195 HRS in operation, out of which 63 deployed via FCH 2 JU (mainly via H2ME and H2ME2 projects. From those, 127 HRS are publically available or by prior arrangements for refuelling of passenger cars and other light duty vehicles[4].
- 4003 µCHPs contracted via FCH 2 JU, out of which ca. 2054 deployed (mainly via PACE and EneField projects).
[1] Latest status 22/01/2020, including non-commercial vehicles
[2] Including non-commercial vehicles and 16 discontinued cars
[3] Including 13 discontinued buses
[4] Excluding MHVs, trucks and buses
Events and Solicitations
Publications
Life Cycle Assessment of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies
The report provides an overview of the progress achieved so far and a comprehensive analysis on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for various hydrogen technologies and processes. The review considers 73 FCH 2 JU funded projects. The LCAs have been assessed regarding the adherence to guideline recommendations, methodology and overall quality of the work. Based on the outcome of this analysis, a harmonisation effort in the approach to LCA for the FCH JU funded projects is proposed. In particular, a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database useful for the projects is required together with the identification of a reference case to be used as benchmark for future LCAs.
Keyword Analysis and Project Classification of FCH 2 JU Projects
This report assesses keywords to determine relationships between funding and the different activities of the Joint Undertaking, for example, to visualise trends in the funding for particular technologies or applications. As a pre-cursor to a wider historical analysis of the impact of the FCH 2 JU, a structured classification of projects according to keywords is performed, leading to the creation of a hierarchical database.
The potential role of H2 production in a sustainable future power system
In this report, the operation of a future highly decarbonised (95% CO2 emissions reduction vs 1990) power system, as defined with JRC-EU-TIMES (a partial equilibrium energy system model) in 2050, is analysed with METIS, the mathematical model providing analysis of the European energy system for electricity, gas and heat.
Current Status of Chemical Energy Storage Technologies
The aim of this report is to give an overview of the contribution of EU funding, specifically through Horizon 2020 (H2020), to the research, development and deployment of chemical energy storage technologies (CEST). In the context of this report, CEST is defined as energy storage through the conversion of electricity to hydrogen or other chemicals and synthetic fuels. The report maps research activities on CESTs at the European level. In addition, projects funded at national and international level, occurring within the same timeframe, have been considered.
Global Energy and Climate Outlook 2019: Electrification for the low-carbon transition
This edition of the Global Energy and Climate Outlook (GECO) analyses the role of electrification in global transition pathways to a low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions economy. The role of electricity is examined by large sector (industry, transport, buildings, power generation), with a particular regional focus on the EU and China and a sectoral focus on road transport electrification. Hydrogen fuel cells are accounted in the report.
Events & Initiatives
EU Energy day at COP25
The EU energy day took place on 10 December 2019 under the topic: "Transforming the energy system for a climate neutral economy: the EU example. Within the event, the session “Accelerating innovation for the European Green Deal” presented a number of key technologies and innovations funded by different EU R&I support instruments and included inputs from the FCH 2 JU funded project H2FUTURE.
The European Green Deal
The European Commission presented the European Green Deal on 11 December 2019, outlining the main policy initiatives for reaching net-zero global warming emissions by 2050. “Climate-neutral” Europe: this is the overarching objective of the European Green Deal. To this purpose, a plan for “smart sector integration”, bringing together the electricity, gas and heating sectors closer together “in one system”, is foreseen in 2020. Hydrogen is mentioned as a key instrument for meeting the Green Deal objectives.
Hydrogen for Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI)
A conference/info-session on Hydrogen for Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) took place in Brussels on 15 January 2020. The conference aimed to: (i) inform participants about the concept of Important Projects of Common European Interest; (ii) present a number of major large-scale Hydrogen projects as examples; and (iii) facilitate extensive matchmaking between participants in order to find the required industrial partners for the implementation of existing and new projects.
Covenant of Mayors Investment Forum and Official launch of the EU City Facility
The Covenant of Mayors Investment Forum – Energy Efficiency Finance Market Place is the biggest event of its kind in Europe, showcasing successful projects on financing climate adaptation, energy efficiency, clean mobility and innovative energy planning, as well as initiatives working across Europe to facilitate the market for climate and sustainable energy finance. The event was organised on 18-19 February 2020 by the European Commission's Directorates-General for Energy and Climate Action and the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) in collaboration with the Covenant of Mayors. The FCH JU joined the event with a session on Hydrogen mobility solutions for buses, garbage trucks and taxi fleet.
FCHgo Award: "World of the future: the best FCH application"
The international FCHgo Award challenges pupils to imagine innovative applications of FCH technology that will transform our daily-lives in the future. The theme of the contest is ‘World of the future: the best FCH application’. The competition was launched on 26 February 2020 by FCHgo project, a project funded by the FCH 2 JU. The goal of FCHgo project is to strengthen public acceptance and awareness of fuel cell hydrogen technologies (FCH-Ts) by educating pupils of all education levels, from primary to secondary school. The project was launched in January 2019 and will be carried out until the end of 2020.
Hydrogen fuel cell trucks. Paving the road to a carbon-neutral Europe
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trucks Event was held on 5 March 2020 and brought together leading experts from the truck industry, EU decision makers, end-users and infrastructure providers to discuss how to accelerate the mass-market deployment of hydrogen fuel cell trucks and their infrastructure.
Launch of the Hydrogen Valley Platform
The Hydrogen Valley Platform, launched on 21 April 2020, is a Global Information Sharing Platform, developed by the FCH 2 JU to support the Mission Innovation IC8 Member States. Its objective is to promote the emergence and implementation of hydrogen flagship projects (“hydrogen valleys”) and raise awareness among policy makers, thus advancing the clean energy transition. The platform will offer up to date information regarding existing hydrogen valley projects, while providing various support tools for project development, implementation, and facilitating interaction.
A 2×40 GW Initiative - Green Hydrogen for a European Green Deal
The European industry association Hydrogen Europe announced on 27 April 2020 the 2x40 GW Initiative. The objective is to promote a massive increase of electrolyser production within the EU in order to support green hydrogen production. The initiative proposes install 40 GW electrolyser capacity in the countries of the European Union as well as 40 GW electrolyser capacity in neighbouring countries, especially in North Africa and Ukraine up to the year 2030.
HYTUNNEL-CS Stakeholders’ workshop
The consortium of the FCH 2 JU project HYTUNNEL-CS organised an online Stakeholders' Workshop on 4-5 May 2020. Tunnel authorities, managers and designers, as well as tunnel operations and safety officers participated along with developers of hydrogen-powered vehicles and hydrogen delivery transport developers and manufacturers.
THYGA online workshop
The consortium of the FCH 2 JU project THYGA organised an online workshop on 6 May 2020. The workshop presented first research results and discussed the specific consequences of hydrogen blending for the gas appliances sector, with the participation of researchers, manufacturers and associations.
FCH JU’S Project Development Assistance (PDA) initiative
Following a highly competitive public call for applications, launched by the FCH JU early 2020, 11 European regions were selected (out of 35) to benefit from direct assistance for
developing high quality, integrated hydrogen projects. The piece of news was released on 18 May 2020 and a first meeting with these regions is planned to take place in the beginning of June. The wide geographic spread and the diverse portfolio of the end-use applications in the regions selected can create a great blueprint for the other regions. These will be included in the PDA Observers’ Network and will be able to benefit from the shared knowledge and expertise.
Procurements
The FCH 2 JU is supporting the development of the ‘European fuel cells and hydrogen market and policy observatory’ to act as a reference point for information about fuel cells and hydrogen technologies and applications in Europe. The call for tenders was published on 9 August 2018 and the first release of the observatory is expected to become live in Q3 2020.
The FCH 2 JU published a call for tenders on 26 March 2019 to carry out a study on Opportunities arising from the inclusion of Hydrogen Energy Technologies in the National Energy & Climate Plans. The final report is expected to be released in Q2 2020.
The FCH 2 JU published a call for tenders to undertake a Study on use of fuel cell hydrogen in aviation, a joint study between the FCH 2 JU and Clean Sky 2 JU on the potential of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies in the field of aircraft propulsion. The final report is expected to be released in Q2 2020.
The FCH 2 JU published a call for tenders on 13 November 2020 to support a Study on European Business cases for FCH trucks and technology development roadmap. The kick off meeting was held and a final report is expected to be released in Q4 2020.
The FCH 2 JU is supporting the Project Development Assistance (PDA) for European Regions study to provide support for at least ten regions or cities to develop detailed work plans for the implementation of hydrogen projects, including at least two projects from EU13 member states. The call for tenders was published on 14 May 2019. On April 2020, 11 European regions were selected to benefit from direct assistance. The Kick-Off meeting is expected to take place beginning of June 2020.
The FCH 2 JU published a call for tenders on 14 April 2020 to carry out a Study on Accelerating the Deployment of Guarantees of Origin Schemes for Hydrogen and for the Design of a Voluntary Scheme for Compliance with REDII Targets. Deadline to express interest is the end of June 2020.
Investments and Funding
- All information on investments will be provided in the Hydrogen Policy package to be released beginning of July.
Regulations, Codes & Standards, and Safety
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The activities of the Regulations, Codes & Standards Strategy Coordination (RCS SC) Group of the FCH 2 JU were focused on updating the annual work plan of the group as well as the coordination of identified RCS needs and gaps towards appropriate standardisation platforms (such as Technical Committees and the Sector Fora) and regulatory bodies.
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The European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP) activities for 2020 were kicked-off and activities are ongoing in the four task forces. As a result, a safety-related checklist was developed for the FCH 2 JU programme office as a tool to improve the hydrogen safety management at a programme level. Besides, the EHSP is updating the assessment of the safety data and events contained in the European Hydrogen Safety Reference Database (HIAD 2.0) performed in 2019.
Data
Websites
International Cooperation
Cordis FP6 Service
Energy Research Europa
Energy Research/Technology Platform
CIRCAB (to download presentations and documents)
European Hydrogen Association
Reports & Publications
HyNet Executive Report (PDF 174KB)
Overview of HyNet (PDF 176KB)
Overview of HyWays (PDF 638KB)
Member Statements