The EU launched its €2 billion partnership with industry to accelerate research and development in green hydrogen. One of its main goals is to scale up green hydrogen electrolysers, which use renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, from megawatt to gigawatt scale. This will bring down the cost of the technology that today is too expensive to compete in the market.
The new partnership is a key component of the EU’s hydrogen strategy launched in July 2020. Co-funded half and half by industry and the Horizon Europe research programme, it builds on an earlier industrial partnership under the previous Horizon 2020 programme.
“This new partnership builds on years of cooperation,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “And it brings that model to the next level. It’s a new big step forward to bring innovative technologies from the laboratory to the factory, and ultimately to European businesses and consumers.”
In November, policymakers approved the hydrogen partnership as part of a €22 billion package of industrial partnerships. Now, calls for 2022 are ready to open, with €300 million foreseen to be announced in the first quarter of next year.
