Integration of multi-MW electrolysers in industrial applications

The project should aim at demonstrating electrolyser technologies beyond actual state-of-the-art producing hydrogen reliably under favourable economic conditions and rationale use of water in a specific industrial application to be chosen by the proposers.

The scope of the project is to demonstrate the integration of a large-scale electrolyser of minimum 25 MW. Technical requirements in terms of purity and pressure shall be designed to fulfil the industrial requirements. At least 2 years of operation are expected. Hydrogen production should be >1,500 tonne/yr and the facility should be working more than 3,200 equivalent hours/yr at full load.

Proposal should address innovation aspects that ensure the project goes beyond the state of the art. Examples of innovations could include, but are not limited to:

• Possibly supply hydrogen to two separate users, each with their own operational requirements and managing electrolyser output both in terms of generation and storage in order to maximise the efficiency of the setup;
• Use oxygen and/or waste heat from the electrolyser for other processes at the industrial site, or from the industrial process to the electrolyser in case of SOEL;
• Concepts related to the circular economy (e.g.: water utilisation, re-use of CO₂ at the site);
• Provision of grid services that help the economics of the installation;
• Footprint reduction, for example integrating hardware vertically instead of horizontally, or minimising the footprint of the electrolyser with a single balance of plant including all required utilities such as water purification, power rectification with appropriate grid interfaces and hydrogen purification, process cooling, etc;

Given that the topic leaves the possibility open for addressing a broad scope of industrial applications, it will be up to the proposal to clearly specify these innovation aspects and avoid any duplication of previous industrial electrolyser applications. In this regard, proper reference and complementarity to previously funded projects by the FCH JU (e.g. Refhyne, H2Future, Djewels, Multiplhy, MegaSyn) and the Green Deal 100MW electrolyser projects should be included, if applicable;

Proposals should also:

• Satisfy industrial requirements for round-the-clock operation using an otherwise (a priori) intermittent source of primary renewable energy;
• demonstrate the economic benefits/enablers of the project for the selected applications. The consortium should demonstrate/investigate a sustainable long term business case for industrial customers who value the renewable character of the hydrogen. This should include a study on the impact of using renewable hydrogen on the final cost of the product and a market evaluation to understand how much premium the end customers are willing to pay for a renewable product;
• Provide the operating scenarios, the expected annual production, the use(s) foreseen and a detailed business case analysis. The electrolyser and downstream systems should be installed and operated for a minimum period of two years within the duration of the project; assurances for operation thereafter should be provided at the proposal stage;
• Include a plan for use of the installation after the project;
• Disseminate the technical and economic benefits, notably (but not only) to the communities of the relevant Horizon Europe private-public partnerships;
• Describe how learnings will be communicated and dissemination will occur beyond the consortium, including those regions in Europe where large scale electrolysis has not yet been demonstrated;
• Support the development of the EU value chain and competitiveness of EU industry for electrolysers, including main components, cells and stacks.

The power connection costs, building costs and the electricity costs for the commissioning phase are eligible for funding. Electricity costs during demonstration / business operation are not eligible. The results of a techno-economic assessment should be reported after each year of operation, including information on the individual cost and revenue streams related to the electrolyser.

The project shall include a clear go/no-go decision point (milestone) ahead of entering the deployment phase. Before this go/no go decision point, the project shall deliver the following: detailed engineering plans, a complete business and implementation plan and all the required permits for the deployment of the project. The project proposal is expected to clearly demonstrate a proposed pathway to obtaining necessary permits for the demonstration actions and allow for appropriate timelines to achieve these.[[independent experts will assess all deliverables and will give advice on the go/no go decision.]]

This topic is expected to contribute to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership by supporting a European value chain for hydrogen and fuel cell systems and components.

Applicants are encouraged to seek collaboration with existing projects of the Horizon Europe Process4Planet partnership or future topics concerning innovative industrial processes, that could make use of the hydrogen produced by the electrolyser.

Proposals are expected to address sustainability and circularity aspects.

Proposals should provide a preliminary draft on ‘hydrogen safety planning and management’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation.

It is expected that Guarantees of origin (GOs) will be used to prove the renewable character of the hydrogen that is produced. In this respect consortium may seek out the issuance and subsequent cancellation of GOs from the relevant Member State issuing body and if that is not yet available the consortium may proceed with the issuance and cancellation of non-governmental certificates (e.g CertifHy[[https://www.certifhy.eu/]]).

Activities developing test protocols and procedures for the performance and durability assessment of electrolysers and fuel cell components proposals should foresee a collaboration mechanism with JRC (see section 2.2.4.3 ""Collaboration with JRC""), in order to support EU-wide harmonisation. Test activities should adopt the already published EU harmonised testing protocols to benchmark performance and quantify progress at programme level.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 6 and achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project.

At least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2022 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021–2022 which apply mutatis mutandis.