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
This topic seeks innovations in solar thermos-chemical cycles (TCC) and solar Photoelectrochemical/Photocatalytic (PEC/PC), with a strong emphasis on system-level integration (subcomponents: materials, devices, reactors, control systems, etc. into a fully functional, operable system), targeting demonstration at TRL 5, and aligning with EU climate neutrality and energy resilience goals.
Proposals should focus on the direct conversion of solar energy into hydrogen, eliminating reliance on intermediate photovoltaic-to-electricity pathways.
Detailed Call Description
Past and current projects supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership have established the current technological challenges to overcome for direct solar process generating hydrogen. Therefore, the success of all processes under consideration (TCC and PEC/PC) is strongly linked to the performance of the core components and their interaction. Especially high efficiencies and throughput are required to provide a clear economically competitive scaling and implementation perspective. Innovative solutions including the material, reactor and process level shall be revisited and developed to tackle these significant challenges. The main levers to overcome the efficiency challenges are seen in the following areas: application of advantageous active materials, structures and shapes with better material usage, improved photon and heat management, improved transport processes and heat recovery, as well as co-production of further products besides hydrogen (heat, electricity, other chemical products). A further key for a deployment of such a technology is a convincing pathway for the scaling of the technology. As such, proposals should provide and demonstrate a clear scale-up strategy for the receiver/reactors to substantiate the claim for competitive solutions at 250-500 kW scale for the TCC route and at minimum 10 kW for the PEC/PC route, while considering critical materials and other sustainability issues.
Proposals should make use of already available solar resource harvesting techniques that convincingly demonstrate the promise of commercial application. Possible integration with existing grids (transport, energy, materials) is very important to address the potential application of the proposed technology in future steps. In line with this, proposals can consider including hydrogen intermediate- and end-users or prosumers (on site generation/use as a chemical feedstock or fuel) to demonstrate successful business cases, making efficient use of existing infrastructure and technologies.
Proposals should aim to conduct extensive research and development on the core functional materials of the targeted processes, i.e. redox materials for TCC or light-absorbing and catalytic materials for PEC/PC, as well as innovative reactor and balance of system designs, to produce hydrogen directly from water using solar irradiation in non-concentrated, moderately or highly concentrated form.
Another relevant aspect to consider is the operation of the systems under transient solar irradiation conditions, which may require control strategies or thermal storage elements to ensure process stability and efficiency. Such transient conditions not only demand appropriate control strategies or thermal storage elements to ensure process stability and efficiency but also negatively impact on the lifetime of components, e.g. by accelerating materials degradation. Therefore, adapted suitable operational strategies are needed to deal with intermittency of solar radiation.
The topic should cover the following elements:
- Depending on the proposed technology, improvement of catalyst and redox materials (high thermal stability, cyclability, faster kinetics, and higher hydrogen yield), electrodes and photoelectrodes, receivers and membranes for better efficiency and lifetime minimising CRMs;
- Ensure reusability / recovery of materials and components, as much as possible;
- Work on an integrated architecture and reactor design that minimises material use and optimises the balance of plant, with consideration for modular assemblies;
- Strong focus on scalability of process and design;
- Smart energy and heat management within the process as a whole;
- Assessment of efficiency at relevant scale and representative conditions (including dynamic) and verification of minimal efficiency losses upon upscaling;
- Identifying degradation mechanisms across different scales and implementing countermeasures;
- Support through modelling (e.g. development of thermodynamic/electrochemical models to support material developments and/or 3D CFD models for optimised reactor design);
- Full techno-economic and LCA analysis;
- Development of end of life and recycling strategies for functional materials and core components.
Proposals should cover the following elements addressing the described challenges in TCC and PEC/PC processes to advance the technology to achieve at least TRL 5: system performance, reactor development and material development, all supported by a solid business case. This should be validated by developing, building, and testing dedicated reactor units and peripherals to achieve the performance characteristics given in the section Expected Results.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €3.00 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
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Services Providers
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
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.