Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
The Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking or Clean Hydrogen Partnership is a unique public-private partnership supporting research and innovation (R&I) activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe. It builds upon the success of its predecessor, the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The scope of this topic is to develop validated containment concepts intended for bulk shipping of LH2. The concepts developed should also be suitable for a later scale-up.
Detailed Call Description
To achieve this, several new challenges that greatly impact bulk LH2 storage scalability need to be addressed, ideally by an industrial lead consortium. The scope for the development of new thermal insulation concepts for bulk LH2 shipping requires:
- Assessment of the regulatory requirements for the transportation of bulk LH2 on ships;
- Development of an insulation system solution, notably the pipes through the insulation and pipe feedthroughs, the connections, and the supporting structures, during normal operation, loading and unloading processes, maintenance, and inspection;
- 2D Numerical analysis of tank heat ingress and internal heat and mass transfer (boil off rate, stratification, and temperature distribution in the insulation) taking into account thermal cycling (e.g. as those related to sloshing events, loading or unloading);
- Numerical analysis of tank internal and external supports to minimise heat leaks through thermal bridges while keeping structural integrity under high thermal stresses and transport conditions at sea;
- Design and manufacture a tank prototype with a capacity of at least 30 m3 to trade-off costs and representativeness and test it at relevant environmental conditions (with LH2, appropriate heat loads, accelerations) to confirm the benefits of the new insulation approach and to validate the numerical analysis;
- Analysis of the scalability of the concept among transport volume ranges;
- Demonstration of the techno-economic viability of the concept;
- Investigate cost-efficient manufacturing processes;
- Develop a System Oriented Digital Twin to assess the impact of the insulation at tank level within its functional operation/scenarios (venting, cool down, first-filling, refuelling), and to serve as support for scalability studies after its validation against the prototype experiments;
- Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for the tank concept, and analysis of the resilience and fault-tolerance of the system;
- Demonstration of the safety performance of the insulation concept;
- Evaluate the effects of the insulation system design on the risk management of the LH2 tank;
- Fire resistance of the insulation assembly by modelling and testing;
- Design a tank with improved insulation within the minimum size among proper transport volume ranges;
- Pre-normative standardisation of integrity assessment for LH2 and marine environment exposure and test methods in cooperation with relevant stakeholders from the industry.
Proposals are expected to demonstrate the contribution to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership of the activities to be funded including but not limited to the origin of the equipment and components as well infrastructure purchased and built during the project. These aspects will be evaluated and monitored during the project implementation.
Applicants are encouraged to seek synergies with the Zero Emission Waterborne Partnership concerning regulatory requirements and pre-normative standardisation.
Proposals should provide a preliminary draft on ‘hydrogen safety planning and management’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €4.00 million.
Thematic Categories
- Economy-Finances
- Energy
- Environment and Climate Change
- Industry
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Information Technology
- Processing
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Central Government
- Educational Institutions
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- Natual person / Citizen / Individual
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
Additional eligibility condition: Maximum contribution per topic
For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to limit the Clean Hydrogen JU requested contribution mostly for actions performed at high TRL level, including demonstration in real operational environment and with important involvement from industrial stakeholders and/or end users such as public authorities. Such actions are expected to leverage co-funding as commitment from stakeholders. It is of added value that such leverage is shown through the private investment in these specific topics. Therefore, proposals requesting contributions above the amounts specified per each topic below will not be evaluated
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-03-03: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-04-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 17.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
Additional eligibility condition: Membership to Hydrogen Europe / Hydrogen Europe Research
For the topics listed below, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to ensure that one partner in the consortium is a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research. This concerns topics targeting actions for large-scale demonstrations, flagship projects and strategic research actions, where the industrial and research partners of the Clean Hydrogen JU are considered to play a key role in accelerating the commercialisation of hydrogen technologies by being closely linked to the Clean Hydrogen JU constituency, which could further ensure full alignment with the SRIA of the JU. This approach shall also ensure the continuity of the work performed within projects funded through the H2020 and FP7, by building up on their experience and consolidating the EU value-chain. In the Call 2026 this applies to: development and demonstration of flexible and standardised hydrogen storage systems and demonstration and operation of reversible solid oxide cell systems operation for local grid-connected hydrogen production and utilisation. This will also apply to the Hydrogen Valleys (flagship) topics as they are considered of strategic importance for the European Union ambitions to double the number of Hydrogen Valleys by 2025 as well as to the more recent European Commission’s inspirational target to have at least 50 Hydrogen Valleys under construction or operational by 2030 across the entire EU. For the Hydrogen Valleys topics a large amount of co-investment/co-funding of project participants/beneficiaries including national and regional programmes is expected.
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-03-03
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-04-02
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-01
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-02
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.