The aim of this proposal is to promote and facilitate technologically, financially, and operationally mature projects from Horizon 2020 to reach deployment phase by means of developing synergies with the ETS Innovation Fund. The overall objective of H2IF is to validate such connection could be effective between promising Horizon funded R&I results and Innovation Fund for hydrogen and energy storage projects. This proof of concept will be made thanks to the scaling-up and submission of 3 projects to the Innovation Fund instrument, all of them having been selected due to their high ‘climate neutrality’ potential, their innovation degree, while already being supported by Horizon 2020.

To prevent catastrophic climate change, we must rapidly shift to low carbon, renewable energies. Yet, 65% of Europe’s energy demand is still met by natural gas and other fossil fuels. Hydrogen provides solutions to several energy and climate problems. Geological hydrogen storage, like today’s natural gas storage, is needed to store variable renewable energies and flexibly provide green hydrogen mobility, industry and residential uses. HYPSTER aims to demonstrate the industrial-scale operation of cyclic H2 storage in salt caverns to support the emergence of the hydrogen energy economy in Europe in line with overall Hydrogen Europe road-mapping. The specific objectives are to: •Define relevant cyclic tests to be performed based on modelling and the needs of emerging hydrogen regions across Europe •Demonstrate the viable operation of H2 cyclic storage for the full range of use-cases of emerging European hydrogen regions •Assess the economic feasibility of large-scale cyclic H2 storage to define the roadmap for future replication across the EU •Assess the risks and environmental impacts of H2 cyclic storage in salt caverns and provide guidelines for safety, regulations and standards •Commit at least 3 companies to using the hydrogen storage and 3 potential sites to replicate the cyclic hydrogen storage elsewhere in Europe on a commercial-scale by the end of the project HYPSTER will pave the way towards replication with the target to go below 1€/kg for H2 storage cost for the potential 40 TWh salt cavern storage sites in Europe. The project coordinator STORENGY will massively invest for the upscaling of Europe’s first large-scale, cyclic salt cavern in operation by 2025 and 3 more targeted by 2030. HYPSTER brings together 9 European partners including 2 RTOs for technology development, and 6 industries including 2 SME, plus 1 public-private cluster association to ensure maximum dissemination and uptake of HYPSTER results.

If the solution for integration of intermittent renewable sources to decarbonate the industry and mobility is hydrogen, for example with European Hydrogen Backbone initiative, large-scale storage of H2 technical feasibility and economic viability is still hampering wide EU market uptake. FrHyGe main goal is to demonstrate and qualify in industrial environment in France the injection and withdrawal of H2 in a current natural gas commercial storage site. But FrHyGe will also deliver the conversion process and up-scale strategies to foster EU replication of H2 storage in caverns, starting with an ongoing project in Germany to accelerate know-how transfer and economic viability. FrHyGe objectives are: • To develop and implement two conversion processes from natural gas or brine cavern to hydrogen storage • To demonstrate H2 storage and cyclability in a 3000 tons potential cavern with 100 cycles from 1h to 1 week • To study the local hydrogen value chain and the techno-economic impacts on local actors and to upscale and deploy H2 storage along European Hydrogen Backbone • To assess the risks and environmental impacts of H2 cyclic storage in salt caverns and provide guidelines for safety, regulation and normative adaptations in Europe FrHyGe will open a path towards a potential of commercial 38 ktons of H2 storage in several EU countries as soon as 2030, and up to 1.5 Mtons in 2050 through conversion and creation of caverns, leading to a CAPEX below 10 €/Kg of H2 stored. To succeed, FrHyGe gathers EU leading H2 industries and research centres, led by worldwide underground storage actor Storengy, willing to make happen large-scale and multi-site H2 storage in caverns.

GECO will advance in the provision of cleaner and cost-effective non-carbon and sulphur emitting geothermal energy across Europe and the World. The core of this project is the application of an innovative technology, recently developed and proved successfully at pilot scale in Iceland, which can limit the production of emissions from geothermal plants by condensing and re-injecting gases or turning the emissions into commercial products. To both increase public acceptance and to generalise this approach, it will be applied by GECO in four distinct geothermal systems in four different European countries: 1) a high temperature basaltic reservoir in Iceland; 2) a high temperature gneiss reservoir in Italy; 3) a high temperature volcano-clastic reservoir in Turkey; and 4) a low temperature sedimentary reservoir in Germany. Gas capture and purification methods will be advanced by lowering consumption of resources, (in terms of electricity, water and chemicals) to deliver cheaper usable CO2 streams to third parties. Our approach to waste gas storage is to capture and inject the soluble gases in the exhaust stream as dissolved aqueous phase. This acidic gas-charged fluid provokes the dissolution of subsurface rocks, which increases the reservoir permeability, and promotes the fixation of the dissolved gases as stable mineral phases. This approach leads to the long-term environmentally friendly storage of waste gases, while it lowers considerably the cost of cleaning geothermal gas compared to standard industry solutions. A detailed and consistent monitoring program, geochemical analysis, and comprehensive modelling will allow characterising the reactivity and consequences of fluid flow in our geologically diverse field sites letting us create new and more accurate modelling tools to predict the reactions that occur in the subsurface in response to induced fluid flow. Finally, gas capture for reuse will be based on a second stage cleaning of the gas stream, through amine separation and burn and scrub processes, producing a CO2 stream with H2S levels below 1 ppm, which is the prerequisite for most utilisation pathways such as the ones that will be applied within the project.

IMAGHyNE will pave the way for the deployment of a large-scale renewable hydrogen (H2) economy in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, fully integrated in the energy system and addressing the needs of high emitting sectors. The objectives will be to: 1) deploy 57 MW of new electrolysis capacity, 2) implement a flexible H2 supply chain combining underground storage and tube-trailer deliveries 3) deploy 13 multi-modal H2 refuelling stations, 4) deploy 201 on-road fuel cell vehicles, 5) deploy 63 off-road fuel cell vehicles and stationary equipment, 6) strengthen the robustness of the energy and H2 supply chain by integrating a flexible industrial player, 7) design an efficient pipeline-based multi-user H2 ecosystem, 8) prepare for additional large-scale deployment as part of the Valley extension (including IPCEI) and its replication, 9) disseminate and communicate the results of the project to a wide audience. IMAGHyNE will meet the requirements of the Work Programme and contribute to the EU’s H2 strategy. IMAGHyNE will foster the development of a long-lasting H2 economy through: 1) an extension of the Valley including the development of a pipeline network and the transition of several industries part of the observer group, 2) an ambitious replication strategy with at least 5 territories from European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland), airports, and mountain ecosystems, 3) high quality communication and dissemination activities including training, 4) recommendations to public authorities on regulation (e.g. tunnels). This ambition will be achieved thanks to the involvement of key public and private entities covering the entire H2 value chain, with an extensive experience of EU-funded projects, who have defined a detailed governance structure, Work Plan and financing strategy. IMAGHyNE partners will work collectively to create links and synergies with upcoming and existing Valleys already supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.