The European Commission (EC) has approved EUR 1.4 billion joint state aid package under the fourth Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI), called ‘Hy2Move,’ to support research, innovation and industrial deployment of hydrogen technology in mobility and transport.
The participating Member States (Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain) will provide EUR 1.4 billion in public funding, and the project is expected to attract additional EUR 3.3 billion in private investment.
This initiative complements the three previous IPCEIs focused on different aspects of the hydrogen value chain: ‘Hy2Tech’ (hydrogen technologies for end users), ‘Hy2Use’ (hydrogen applications in the industrial sector), and ‘Hy2Infra’ (infrastructure investments).
IPCEI Hy2Move will leverage the existing hydrogen infrastructure established through Hy2Infra and involve 13 innovative projects by 11 companies. These companies will collaborate with each other, Breuer Technical Development, a Belgian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), and over 200 other partners, including universities, research organizations and other European SMEs.
Hy2Move specifically tackles challenges related to integrating hydrogen technology into transportation, including the development of:
•Mobility and transport applications: fuel cell vehicle platforms for buses, trucks, ships and trains
•High-performance fuel cell technologies: hydrogen-powered electricity generation for ships and locomotives
•On-board hydrogen storage: lightweight, safe and efficient hydrogen tanks for aircraft
•Hydrogen production technologies: on-site hydrogen production for refuelling stations
All four hydrogen IPCEIs are expected to gather about EUR 43 billion from both public and private funds, engaging almost 100 European businesses in more than 120 projects.
In April this year, the EC announced the winners of the first auction for the European Hydrogen Bank, an EU funding program that promotes the large-scale production of hydrogen. Seven projects in Finland, Norway, Portugal and Spain were selected to receive a total of EUR 720 million.