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Demonstration of LH2 HRS for Heavy Duty applications

European Comission

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Summary

Opens:

31 January 2023

Closes:

18 April 2023

Amount :-

Estimated total funding amount:

Estimated number of awards:

Who can apply:

For profit

Individuals

Not for profit (incl. NGOs)

Public sector

R&D and Higher Education

Locations:

Categories:

Research, Development and Innovation - - - Engineering and Technology

Research, Development and Innovation - - - Natural Sciences

Research, Development and Innovation - - - Social Sciences

Overview

ExpectedOutcome :

The topic aims to develop and demonstrate the technological foundations of large LH2 refuelling stations for the heavy-duty transport sectors such as aviation, maritime and railroad sectors, and thereby address and overcome the challenges that are remaining in their development. The main challenges are the development and demonstration of key equipment at the required scales such as high flowrate liquid hydrogen pumps, the management of higher volume boil-off gas, the lack of safety protocols and overall station integration. Ultimately, this topic aims to facilitate widespread LH2 delivery across each of the identified transportation sectors.

Hydrogen is liquefied by reducing its temperature to -253°C, increasing its volumetric energy density. This enables hydrogen storage in large quantities and its transportation by road or ship from centralised or decentralised production unit to customers, as well as the LH2 on-board storage for direct use in heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks, ships, trains or aircraft.

The HRS is a key stage in the hydrogen value chain as it performs the final delivery of hydrogen in gaseous or liquid form to the vehicle tank. Current projects are already developing hydrogen refuelling stations to store and distribute liquid hydrogen to heavy-duty trucks. However, the challenges of larger LH2 HRS for ships, trains, and aircraft, in terms of flowrate capacities, performance, protocols and working environments (harbour, airport, train depots) are still to be addressed. As maritime, aviation and railroad sectors share similar technological concepts and equipment, this topic aims to demonstrate first their feasibility.

The project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

Accelerating the implementation of liquid hydrogen for heavy-duty mobility, especially ships, trains and airplanes;
Development of common technical concepts and equipment for large refuelling stations, preparing their dissemination to EU rail, maritime and aviation sectors;
Evaluation and demonstration of operational, inspection and maintenance requirements of large-scale refuelling station;
Achievement of a cost reduction, energy efficient and low emitting hydrogen value chain.
Development of guidelines for harmonised interfaces systems and standardisation protocols between refuelling station and tank vessel inside EU to be provided for pre-normative actions and further world-wide adoption.

Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA:

Station delivery flowrate of liquid hydrogen dispensed corresponding to nominal flowrate of pumping and dispensing system (in tonnes per hour - TPH): > 5;
Station energy consumption per kg of hydrogen dispensed when the station is loaded at 80% of its daily capacity (in kWh/kg): < 0.3;
Liquid hydrogen refuelling station contribution in hydrogen price (in €/kg): 2; Scope :

The configuration of a hydrogen refuelling station is primarily defined by the state of hydrogen supplied to the station, either gaseous or liquid, and as supplied to the receiving tank, also gaseous or liquid. Liquid hydrogen refuelling stations are to be understood as refuelling stations storing LH2 while primarily delivering LH2, for instance to increase HRS efficiency. Liquid hydrogen refuelling stations are essentially composed of the following sub-systems:

liquid hydrogen fixed or mobile storage;
liquid hydrogen pump at low pressure (< 30 bar);
liquid hydrogen dispenser to vessel / vehicle receptacle (break away, nozzle, flexible, flow meter, coupling);
boil-off gas management system.

There are currently a number of challenges associated with the scale-up of large liquid hydrogen refuelling stations for the delivery of low-cost liquid hydrogen:

Current liquid hydrogen low pressure pumping systems have not been demonstrated to reach high delivery flowrates (>5 TPH) at a high TRL (currently at TRL 3) while various challenges are yet to be overcome, including mechanical construction to minimise thermal losses, the filtration and purging processes to deal with condensed particles, and high rotation speeds over extended periods;
In a liquid hydrogen station, boil-off gas on is mainly expected to be generated during liquid hydrogen loading. This requires the management of significant quantities of low pressure, cold but valuable gaseous hydrogen. Given the very high refuelling flow rates, active recondensation systems are not currently considered feasible due to the high-power requirement, so alternative solutions will have to be developed;
The integration and assembly of large-scale liquid hydrogen refuelling stations has not previously been demonstrated, given that liquid hydrogen handling difficulty increases with higher flowrates;
There are no uniform standards and safety regulations for liquid hydrogen refuelling stations while communication and emergency mitigation protocols are still to be developed.

The scope of this topic is to develop, build and operate a liquid hydrogen refuelling station that should demonstrate a delivery flowrate of at least 5 tonnes per hour. The LH2 HRS should demonstrate a potential for scaling-up with technical and economic improvements. The LH2 HRS should be capable of reducing the energy consumption and specific cost of hydrogen to prepare for the wide scale deployment of hydrogen for the benefit of heavy-duty transport and its ecosystem with zero emissions. The demonstration of a high-performance large hydrogen refuelling station would impact other SRIA roadmaps related to liquid hydrogen (transportation, storage, end-usage as aviation, etc).

The following activities should be within the scope of this topic:

Development of a demonstrator with proven scalability in railroad, aircraft or maritime applications;
Provision of a techno-economic analysis of the performance of these systems including energy consumption (in kWh/kgH2), CAPEX, OPEX;
Development of a model to forecast boil-off gas generation during operations;
Development of a metrology system or methodology for measuring or evaluating the quality and quantity of delivered hydrogen (ortho-para content, temperature, pressure). Proposals are expected to collaborate and explore synergies with the activities of EURAMET’s European Metrology Networks[1] (e.g MetHyInfra[2] project).
Development of a methodology to evaluate hydrogen emissions (including leakage);
Development of operations protocols, including for fuelling, venting or flaring, stand-by and emergency;
Evaluate the life cycle environmental performance of the system.

Optionally, the demonstration may include the dual usage or the repurposing of LNG import terminals.

Proposals are expected to explore synergies with the topic included in Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-07: ‘Hydrogen-powered aviation’ and with the activities of ZEWT partnership.

Applicants are encouraged to address sustainability and circularity aspects in the activities proposed.

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.

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

Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.

The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million – proposals requesting Clean Hydrogen JU contributions above this amount will not be evaluated.

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

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs. However, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks): HRS and related components, costs may exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2023 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023–2024 which apply mutatis mutandis.

Specific Topic Conditions :

Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.

[1]https://www.euramet.org/european-metrology-networks

[2]https://www.euramet.org/european-metrology-networks/energy-gases/activities-impact/projects/project-details/project/metrology-infrastructure-for-high-pressure-gas-and-liquified-hydrogen-flows

Eligibility

General conditions

Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

For all Innovation Actions the page limit of the applications is 70 pages.

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

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. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

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-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-05: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 10.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-06: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 10.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-07: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 15.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 20.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-04: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-05: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -03-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -04-03: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 6.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -04-04: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 6.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 20.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 9.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -07-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 10.00 million
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -07-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 10.00 million

Additional eligibility condition: Membership to Hydrogen Europe / Hydrogen Europe Research

For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, 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. This applies to the following topics:

HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-05
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-06
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-07
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-04
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-05
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -03-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -04-03
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -04-04
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-02
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -07-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -07-02

The following additional eligibility criteria apply: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million – proposals requesting Clean Hydrogen JU contributions above this amount will not be evaluated.

The following additional eligibility criteria apply:At least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:

Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

Exemption to evaluation procedure: complementarity of projects For some topics in order to ensure a balanced portfolio covering complementary approaches, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one additional project that is / are complementary, provided that the applications attain all thresholds. - HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-01 - HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -03-01 Seal of Excellence For the two topics in the Call addressing Hydrogen Valleys, the ‘Seal of Excellence’ will be awarded to applications exceeding all of the evaluation thresholds set out in this Annual Work Programme but cannot be funded due to lack of budget available to the call. This will further improve the chances of good proposals, otherwise not selected, to find alternative funding in other Union programmes, including those managed by national or regional Managing Authorities. With prior authorisation from the applicants, the Clean Hydrogen JU may share information concerning the proposal and the evaluation with interested financing authorities. In this Annual Work Programme ‘Seal of Excellence’ will be awarded for the following topic(s): - HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-01

HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-02

Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

In addition to the standard provisions, the following specific provisions in the model grant agreement will apply:

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), background and results, access rights and rights of use (article 16 and Annex 5 of the Model Grant Agreement (MGA)).

An additional information obligation has been introduced for topics including standardisation activities: ‘Beneficiaries must, up to 4 years after the end of the action, inform the granting authority if the results could reasonably be expected to contribute to European or international standards’. These concerns the topics below:

HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-02
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -05-03 Ownership of results

For all topics in this Work Programme Clean Hydrogen JU shall have the right to object to transfers of ownership of results, or to grants of an exclusive licence regarding results, if: (a) the beneficiaries which generated the results have received Union funding; (b) the transfer or licensing is to a legal entity established in a non-associated third country; and (c) the transfer or licensing is not in line with Union interests. The grant agreement shall contain a provision in this respect.

Full capitalised costs for purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action

For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, mostly large-scale demonstrators or flagship projects specific equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) can exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs. This concerns the topics below:

HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-05
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-06
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -01-07
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-04
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -02-05
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -03-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -04-03
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -04-04
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-01
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023 -06-02 Subcontracting: For all topics: an additional obligation regarding subcontracting has been introduced, namely that subcontracted work may only be performed in target countries set out in the call conditions. The beneficiaries must ensure that the subcontracted work is performed in the countries set out in the call conditions. The target countries are all Member States of the European Union and all Associated Countries.