Promising small scale hydrogen projects in Europe.

With the current war in Ukraine and the impact of the drastically changed relationship with Russia, there is an urgent need to speed up the energy transition process. Recent hydrogen storage innovations in metal hydrides and a recently released product from Plasma Kinetics called light-activated nanostructured thin film hydrogen will positively contribute to the momentum.

Let’s talk about small-scale hydrogen projects within the European Union. The European Union has several subsidy options for hydrogen in Europe Since 2008, Europe has had a major incentive program for hydrogen and fuel cells under the name Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. This public-private program has a budget of 700 million euros in the current period of 2014-2020, which is matched with private investments. [source: Topsector Energie]

Horizon 2020: the 7th EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation. This also includes the projects from the FCH JU calls.
ESIF: European Structural and Investment Funds. these include ERDF (often ERDF, European Regional Development Funds), ESF (European Social Fund), CF (Cohesion Fund) and INTERREG. INTERREG: Interregional cooperation projects, part of ERDF. CEF: Connecting Europe Facility (for Transport and Energy) Not yet included in the picture are the IPCEI: Integrated Projects of Common European Interest.
Projects:
H2 Valcamonica: Green hydrogen for the decarbonisation of Valcamonica valley
The H2 Valcamonica project will produce and store green hydrogen through the implementation of an electrolyser, with the final goal to cover the local demand from both mobility (including rail transport) and energy intensive industries (EIIs). The electrolyser will be powered by renewable energy, mainly generated in a local wasteto-energy plant, avoiding almost 100% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a conventional technology.
HYVALUE:
Novel upcycling production process, based on an innovative circular business model, for high-quality hydrogen production through urban waste streams valorisation. The HYVALUE project will produce high quality hydrogen based on an innovative production process using, amongst other, municipal solid waste. The project, designed and executed by Novargi, will annually produce 1 600 tonnes of hydrogen for mobility and industrial sectors, using 12 000 tonnes of refuse municipal solid waste.
SUN2HY: First Small-Scale Deployment of a Pre-Commercial Plant Based on Photoelectrocatalytic Technology for Hydrogen Production.
The aim of the SUN2HY project is to design, implement and validate a pre-commercial stage production plant to generate green hydrogen via photoelectrocatalysis (PEC), an innovative technology which directly converts solar energy to chemical energy by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen with no external energy input. The produced hydrogen will supply refuelling stations serving the transport sector (i.e. freight buses, trucks and light duty vehicles (LDVs)). The project has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 94% compared to conventional electricity production
ZE PAK green H2: 5 MW pilot green hydrogen production facility
ZE PAK (Coordinator), the largest private energy group in Poland, is undertaking active steps to become one of the leaders of the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) transformation in Poland. The ZE PAK project aims to build a 5MW pilot water electrolysis system to produce green hydrogen for the public bus transport sector in Poland. The system is highly innovative as it contains a self-designed electrolyser stack that improves efficiency by 5% and reduces costs compared to a conventional technology. The hydrogen production capacity is expected to achieve 710 tonnes per annum (tpa) allowing to power ca. 84 buses, supporting the avoidance of 96% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to a conventional technology.
Holthausen is a fast-growing family business which specialises in converting lorries and special vehicles to run on hydrogen. It recently announced a joint venture with Hyzon Motors to produce up to 2,000 hydrogen lorries a year for the European market.

Enel Green Power and FNM sign agreement for green hydrogen development.

The project’s main objectives are: the purchase of new hydrogen-powered trains, which, from 2023, will run on the non-electrified Brescia-Iseo-Edolo line, managed by FERROVIENORD (a 100% FNM owned company), to replace the current diesel-powered trains; the construction of hydrogen production facilities powered by renewable energy, initially intended for the new trains.

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