Demonstration of high pressure (500-700 bar) supply chain

ExpectedOutcome:

In order to contribute to the 2030 Climate plan and Green Deal, it is of the utmost importance to improve the Gaseous Hydrogen (GH₂) logistic. From a current 200 bar transportation pressure, the industry needs to move to higher pressure to increase the payload and decrease significantly the cost of transportation. It means to demonstrate the full logistic chain from the filling centre phase (to load the trailers at high pressure), through the trailers rolling on the road to the HRS able to feed the final vehicle.

This higher pressure GH₂ logistic is timely needed to prepare for the deployment of heavy-duty vehicles (as trucks or trains) and corresponding infrastructure (HRS with high quantities of GH₂ delivered), the increase of industrial needs of GH₂ and ultimately to reduce the TCO of an extensive HRS network in Europe.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Make recommendations for future regulation framework covering the implementation of high-pressure trailers at HRS and promoting interoperability;
• Demonstrate trailer operation including the safety and operating modes;
• Demonstrate the operability of the new equipment for tube trailers & infrastructure ensuring the safety of loading/unloading, operation and transportation (including compression, cylinders, valves, safety valves, connection kit…);
• Demonstrate the feasibility of the full chain of loading (compression, cooling when necessary, filling protocol, filling time) and the unloading (feeding HRS);
• Demonstrate the scale economy impacting the TCO.

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

• Tube trailer payload: 1,000kg in 2024, 1,500 kg in 2030
• Tube trailer CAPEX: 450 €/kg in 2024, 350 €/kg in 2030
• Operating pressure: 500 bar in 204, 700 bar in 2030
• HRS quantities delivered: 2000 kg/d / 1 HRS in 2024, 4000 kg/d / > 2 HRS in 2030
• Filling Centres @ hp pressure (500-700b): 2 tonnes per day (tpd) filled in trailers in 2024, 15 tpd filled in trailers in 2030)
• # trailers filled @ high pressure (500-700b): 2 #/day in 2024, 10 #/day in 2030

Scope:

Proposals submitted in this topic should demonstrate the entire concept of filling centre, trailer fleet and HRS, in complementarity/synergy with the previous two topics supported already in AWP2022 (see below).

Proposals should address the following:

• Design and operate an innovative compression system to fill trailers for a daily capacity in the range of several tons/day in a certain geography;
• Deploy safety concepts to operate safely the filling centres, on road transportation and the HRS at high pressure inlet;
• Demonstrate the economy of scale due to the high pressure at the filling centre (increase of trailer payload) and at the HRS (reduced compression need), and reduced tube trailers rotations logistic pressure by increasing the trailer payload and improving the HRS capacity due to the high-pressure inlet. The project should include a techno-economic assessment of the concept of the filling centre (lessons learned, costs that can be optimised, impact on the final price at the nozzle, different possible configurations. modularity etc.);
• Demonstrate a complete logistic scheme with a distribution radius at relevant scale (minimum several tens of km)
• The demonstration of the filling centres and HRS interoperability (among the commercial actors aiming to participate).

In addition:

• Due the high-pressure operation a special attention should be paid to the safety measures around filling, connecting and driving phase;
• The management of the gas purity in accordance with latest ISO specifications should be demonstrated in order to secure the right operation of hydrogen vehicles;
• As this demonstration is combining 3 different items (filling centres / high pressure trailers / HRS) the mechanical and digital interfaces should be demonstrated properly and fully mastered through an overall quality system;
• In order to improve the GH₂ logistic costs, the project should use the latest available technologies available on the market or under development. In particular, it should include innovative components and subsystems developed in the frame of previous EU funded projects for both infrastructure (innovative compression solutions, filling protocols) and trailers;
• The filling centre should demonstrate the distribution capability to two HRSs minimum;
• The filling centre should fill trailers at high pressure (to be defined in the range of 500 to 700 bar) with a hydrogen payload in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes.

Applicants are encouraged to consider demonstration systems able to fill and deliver quantities above 2 tonnes/day and the scalability from a technology and economic point of view.

Proposals should collaborate and explore synergies with projects already supported in AWP2022 by the Clean Hydrogen JU as follows:

• While the demonstration of a high-pressure trailer (design and qualification) is already supported by the topic HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022-02-07: ‘Increased hydrogen capacity of GH₂ road trailers’, proposals are expected to include the trailer as a qualified transportation tool.
• While the design and the qualification of the HRS is already supported by the topic HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022-02-10: ‘Implementing new/optimised refuelling protocols and components for high flow HRS’, proposals are expected to include HRS demonstration as a part of the overall supply chain addressed in the project.

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 6 and achieve TRL 8 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): necessary equipment and components to demonstrate the supply chain (e.g. filling centre, trailer/s and HRS), 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 6 and achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.