Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SET4H2 (Support to the SET Plan IWG on hydrogen)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-05-01 al 2025-04-30
The aim of SET4H2 is to provide organisational, logistical and secretarial support to a new Implementation Working Group (IWG) on hydrogen within the revamped European Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan. This includes refining the IWG's mission and identity, finalising the Implementation Plan (IP), and identifying opportunities to collaborate with other SET Plan stakeholders and relevant European and international hydrogen initiatives. The IWG on hydrogen provides a valuable opportunity to maintain the community of researchers, industry representatives, members of the public, administrators and policymakers established during the European Research Area (ERA) pilot initiative entitled 'Agenda Process on Green Hydrogen' (2020–2022). Building on the results of a comprehensive, pan-European strategy-building process, the new IWG can achieve faster progress in implementing the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), which was created through close consultation between the European Commission and 30 participating Member States and associated countries. Recognising the systemic role and importance of hydrogen in the future energy system, the IWG aims to establish stronger links between the SET Plan's thematic areas related to hydrogen. The IWG's activities will support research, development and innovation (R&D&I) in hydrogen technologies across the entire value chain, addressing cross-cutting issues. Adopting a long-term research perspective until 2050 for the implementation of funding and support measures will enable the creation of a roadmap for the full transition that encompasses all technology readiness levels and technological approaches to producing, storing, transporting and using renewable hydrogen, even in hard-to-abate sectors. Technological neutrality and diversification are sensible approaches that can increase Europe’s future resilience, providing tailored solutions that achieve high productivity and energy/cost efficiency, as well as sustainability, in different regional contexts.
The CSA SET4H2 supports the precursor to the IWG, the Temporary Working Group on Hydrogen, by providing analyses and reports on the status of research and innovation along the value chain of the emerging hydrogen economy. This includes mapping the existing landscape of hydrogen actors and stakeholders in the European arena, as well as nationally and internationally, to initiate collaboration on the topic of hydrogen itself as well as a cross-cutting issue in the energy mix and integration into the energy system. To avoid duplication, the mapping of actors, projects, stakeholders and topics forms the basis a complementary approach to realising the IWG Hydrogen's role as a key player in Europe and advancing the SET Plan.
To directly support the TWG, the CSA developed a draft implementation plan and, with input from various actors and stakeholders from European initiatives and Member States, selected topics for activity fiches. To support the drafting process, a mapping of R&I projects at the EU level with a focus on Hydrogen Valleys was conducted, complemented by a mapping of value chains and infrastructural and industrial scale-up enablers and challenges identified within the framework of the SET Plan. The report on key aspects of R&D on hydrogen also served to develop a ranking of the importance of research topics, focusing on activities to accelerate the market ramp-up of hydrogen technologies. Although hydrogen is an emerging technology, it has already been addressed within the SET Plan community: Existing IWGs have included hydrogen in their implementation plans, emphasising its role as a cross-cutting technology, which makes it imperative to analyse their work and develop a collaborative approach. To this end the IPs have been analysed and key topics identified. The CSA also conducted a mapping of initiatives, networks and platforms, as well as compiled country fiches on R&I initiatives in selected third countries, which serve to facilitate a structured approach to collaboration in the European Research Area.
To directly support the TWG, the CSA developed a draft implementation plan and, with input from various actors and stakeholders from European initiatives and Member States, selected topics for activity fiches. To support the drafting process, a mapping of R&I projects at the EU level with a focus on Hydrogen Valleys was conducted, complemented by a mapping of value chains and infrastructural and industrial scale-up enablers and challenges identified within the framework of the SET Plan. The report on key aspects of R&D on hydrogen also served to develop a ranking of the importance of research topics, focusing on activities to accelerate the market ramp-up of hydrogen technologies. Although hydrogen is an emerging technology, it has already been addressed within the SET Plan community: Existing IWGs have included hydrogen in their implementation plans, emphasising its role as a cross-cutting technology, which makes it imperative to analyse their work and develop a collaborative approach. To this end the IPs have been analysed and key topics identified. The CSA also conducted a mapping of initiatives, networks and platforms, as well as compiled country fiches on R&I initiatives in selected third countries, which serve to facilitate a structured approach to collaboration in the European Research Area.
The results of the CSA will facilitate a coordinated approach to building the hydrogen economy in Europe. As this is a coordination and support action supporting a SET Plan IWG (TWG), own research results beyond the state of the art are not applicable.