H2SHIFT – Services for Hydrogen Innovation Facilitation and Testing aims to create the first Open Innovation Test Bed for innovative hydrogen production technologies open to startups and SMEs from Europe and globally. H2SHIFT will be a Single Entry Point offering open access to unrivalled resources, innovative infrastructures, unique expertise and capabilities, arranged in a challenging Acceleration Programme. The proposed innovation model combines: • Hydrogen production testing services, including 7 test lines grouped in 4 clusters (Advanced water electrolysis, Bio-hydrogen, Direct-solar Hydrogen production, Hydrogen production in offshore environment); • Technology upscaling services, such as Prototyping for industrial scalability, and Computational modelling; • Non-technical services, among Techno-economic and environmental assessment, Legal and regulation compliance, and Business development. The initiative boosts the Clean H2 JU SRIA on the path towards the upscaling of unmatched and competitive hydrogen production technologies distinctively trailblazing innovation in high-temperature and AEM electrolysis, bio-hydrogen, direct-solar and offshore H2 production, to build a complete portfolio with existing OITB projects dedicated to AEL and PEM technologies. H2SHIFT kickstarts a collaborative ecosystem throughout Europe that links research, academia, and industry, along with final investors, working closely with startups and SMEs to advance groundbreaking solutions that will be demonstrated in industrial environment to advance their technology readiness and market uptake. Remarkably, H2SHIIFT scales up an open pay-per-use hub intended to circumvent expensive costs for early-stage innovators, lowering investment risks for potential investors and contributing to attract private capital for innovation. It contributes to make hydrogen a key part of a cleaner and more secure energy future, and a catalyst for EU leadership in innovative hydrogen technologies.

Transporting natural gas through pipelines has been shown to be safe and efficient for decades. However, decarbonizing the European industry and reducing carbon emissions will require a significant portion of the existing pipeline infrastructure to be used for transporting gaseous hydrogen under high pressure across the continent, from production sites to end users. The pipelines, originally designed for natural gas, are not considered H2-ready, and Transmission System Operators must demonstrate their compatibility with hydrogen. The existing standards, such as ASME B31.12, are often viewed as overly conservative and not conducive to the development of pure hydrogen networks. PilgrHYm is an ambitious R&D project that seeks to develop a pre-normative framework to support the development of a European standard. The project aims to conduct a comprehensive testing program on small-scale laboratory specimens, focusing on 8 base materials, 2 welds, and 2 heat-affected zones that are representative of the EU gas grids. These specimens will be selected after a thorough review by TSOs to address safety concerns, lack of regulations, codes, and standards, as well as research gaps related to the compatibility of current pipelines with hydrogen. PilgrHYm's ultimate goal is to provide quantified data on more than 70% of the EU grid and refine existing norms, codes, and standards by reducing over-conservatism and ensuring the safety and reliability of flaw assessment methodologies. The results of PilgrHYm will serve as the baseline for a harmonized European solution. This project represents a significant step forward in the development of a comprehensive European standard for transporting hydrogen through pipelines and will be instrumental in the successful decarbonization of the European industry and reducing carbon emissions.

Reliable and stable operation under pressure is one of the major challenges of currently existing Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOEL) technologies for its ultimate application in relevant sectors such as energy storage and transport. The main goal of HyP3D is to overcome this barrier by delivering disruptive ultra-compact and lightweight high-pressure SOEL stacks, able to convert electricity into compressed hydrogen, for gas grid injection (P2G) and on-site generation in Hydrogen Refueling Stations (HRS). HyP3D stacks are based on innovative 3D-printed SOEL cells with unprecedented mechanical properties, embedded functionality and self-tightening capabilities implemented by design. These unique advantages will allow operation at pressures above five bars without the need of unpractical, energy inefficient and costly pressure vessels, which is the only actual solution for pressurization despite their low reliability. Breakthrough HyP3D geometries will multiply by more than three times the volume and mass specific power density of conventional technologies (reaching 3.40kW/L and 1.10 kW/kg, respectively), resulting in pressurized SOEC stacks with a remarkably reduced footprint (one third of state-of-the-art stacks) and ultra-low use of raw materials (76% reduction). Moreover, the elimination of any vessel will increase the system efficiency, reduce the final cost and substantially simplify the scaling-up towards required MW-size systems. The project is product-driven and involves industrial partners with proved experience in mass manufacturing of ceramics by 3D printing, glass-to-metal sealing and assembly of electrolysers, which will ensure, together with the presence of P2G and HRS stakeholders, competently covering the entire value-chain. HyP3D technology will be fabricated in a pilot line, which will ensure reaching stack level and validation at laboratory scale by 2025 (TRL=4).

The North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley – NAHV project builds on the LoI signed in March 2022 by representatives of the Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure, Croatian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Autonomous Region in Italy, contributing to the European Green Deal and European Hydrogen Strategy goals. The project’s high-level objective is the creation of a hydrogen-based economic, social and industrial ecosystem based on the capacity of the quadruple helix actors. This will drive economic growth, generating new job opportunities in the framework of both the green and digital transitions and, by creating the conditions for wider EU replicability, it will contribute to the creation of a European Hydrogen Economy, To fulfil these objectives the NAHV project involves a well-rooted partnership of 36 organizations (of which 2 in Hydrogen Europe, 3 in Hydrogen Europe Research), covering the transnational Central European area of 3 territories - Slovenia, Croatia and FVG Region, demonstrating cross-border integration of hydrogen production, distribution and consumption, and exchange of over 20% of NAHV annual hydrogen production of over 5000 tons. The project will activate 17 testbed applications in their related ecosystems, clustered in 3 main pillars - hard to abate, energy and transport sectors. These will act as real-life cases for piloting global hydrogen markets, moving from TRL 6 at the beginning to TRL 8 at the end of the project. Four fuel cell applications in the energy and transport sectors will be demonstrated. Testbeds will then be scaled up at industrial level as a replicable model, contributing to the decarbonisation of the 3 territories by harnessing renewables to improve system resilience, security of supply and energy independence. Replicability will also be ensured for the whole NAHV model, with the uptake of at least 5 additional hydrogen valleys in Europe, particularly in Central and South Eastern Europe.

Further digitalisation of society over the next decade demands infrastructure that is closer to the consumer as the shift in consumption requires data services at the edge of the digital networks. The key to meeting this demand is to rollout digital infrastructure that penetrates urban areas in support of this digital future. The problems associated with powering urban data centres hinges on the challenges of electrical power distribution within cities. This project aims to address these problems by creating a proof of concept (POC) alternative prime power source that employs fuel cell technologies for on-site power generation, which are efficient, quiet, showing reduced environmental impact and negligible demand on the electrical grid. Fuel cells have been around since the Apollo space program and can operate on different fuels like natural gas, hydrogen and propane (LPG). Fuel cells are electrochemical energy converters with efficiencies that exceed conventional power plants, already at small scale. The concept of connecting fuel cells to gas networks to power resilient urban and edge data centres overcomes the need to have backup generation in such areas, thus reducing the emissions and noise impact. The main objectives of the proposed project are to: 1. Define the fuel cell prime power concept for data centres. 2. Create an authoritative open standard for fuel cell adaption to power data centres. 3. Demonstrate and validate a POC fuel cell based prime power module for data centres. 4. Collect extensive operational data from running fuel cells as prime power for data centres. 5. Analyse the combined social, environmental and commercial impact for the European market. 6. Evaluate opportunities for improved energy efficiency and waste heat recovery. The project strongly anticipates opportunities for the European fuel cell suppliers to increase their uptake across multiple markets with improved energy efficiency and cost effectiveness.