Many millions available for hydrogen research

There are hundreds of millions of euros ready for subsidy applications for research into hydrogen in national and European funds. TU Delft is doing a lot in this field and wants to do more. Just think about materials, reactor design and system integration.

The GroenvermogenNL investment programme that is a part of the National Growth Fund is making EUR 100 million available for demonstration projects and EUR 200 million for research and project development. The Netherlands also has a National Hydrogen Programme (NWP) that stems from the Climate Agreement. The NWP goal is to reach 500 megawatt electrolysis energy in 2025, and three to four gigawatt in 2030. And there are two Horizon Europe programmes: the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the Clean Aviation research programme. The objective of both programmes is to improve the quality and reliability, and increase the quantity of, green hydrogen (‘clean hydrogen’) in Europe. A sum of EUR 300 million is available for research into the production, distribution, transport and use of hydrogen for electricity and/or heating.

Fits well
TU Delft works in several of these areas, said Chemistry Professor Bernard Dam (Faculty of AS) at the online General Green Hydrogen & Chemisty meeting on 31 January. “The current research fits well in the hydrogen programme,” he explained to more than 80 attendees. So now TU Delft has to match its research and the funds. But how? During the meeting it transpired that researchers were not alone.

Energy Professor Bendiks Jan Boersma (3mE) and Hydrogen Innovation Manager Peter Lucas recently set up the TU Delft H2 platform whose purpose is to increase the visibility of TU Delft’s hydrogen research. A website currently under construction will help staff apply for research funding. Boersma is the Scientific Director of the platform that has now set up four teams: Sustainable Transport; the Urban Environment; Storage & Distribution; and System Integration.

To help researchers find their way through European programmes, TU Delft has created a support desk called Research Funding EU and International Programmes. Its Head, Servaas Duterloo, and his colleagues can be contacted at researchfunding@tudelft.nl

Downloads:

• Introduction GroenvermogenNL
• TU Delft research and Groenvermogen
• Presentatie H₂ platform
• Presentatie EU Clean Hydrogen
• Presentatie EU Clean Aviation

Relevant links:

• GroenvermogenNL (Dutch only)
• Nationaal Groenfonds
• Nationaal Waterstof Programma (Dutch only)
• Cross-sectorale werkgroep waterstof (CSWW) (Dutch only) 
• Nationaal ecosystem of hydrogen pilots (pdf)
• Clean Hydrogen Partnership (pdf)
• Clean Aviation research programme