Over the 2021-2027 financial period, the Clean Hydrogen JU will streamline 1B€ of EU public funds towards research and innovation topics on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. This amount of funding will have to be matched by the two private partners, Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe, through In-Kind contributions. The Council Regulation establishing all the JUs under Horizon Europe, and thus the Clean Hydrogen JU, was adopted on the 19^th of November 2021.

The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) of the Partnership, published on the 1^st of March 2022, is the fruit of a collaborative work undertaken by Hydrogen Europe Research & Hydrogen Europe members and the European Commission. This document outlines the research and innovation activities that will be tackled during the course of the Partnership to achieve the objectives of the JU.

Concretely, Hydrogen Europe Research members participate in the different Technical Committees and Roadmaps, shared with Hydrogen Europe, where multi-annual and annual strategic priorities are discussed and topics for future Calls for proposals are drafted. In collaboration with the European Commission, this work leads to the development of the Annual Work Plans which translates into public Calls for Proposals.

General information on the Clean Hydrogen Partnership financial contributions

The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is an Institutionalised European Partnership tasked to undertake research and innovation activities on hydrogen and fuel cells technologies with the aim to stimulate clean hydrogen production, distribution, storage and end-use applications.

The Partnership gathers three partners: Hydrogen Europe Research, Hydrogen Europe and the European Commission.

As per Council Regulation (EU) No 2021/0048 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Horizon Europe Joint Undertakings (the so-called “Single Basic Act”), the Clean Hydrogen Partnership will receive 1B€ of EU funding to undertake research and innovation activities over the 2021-2027 financial period.

This EU funding will have to be matched by the two private partners of the Partnership (Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe), via three types of financial contributions:

• IKOP (In-Kind contributions to OPerational activities)
  • Amount of eligible costs incurred in a Clean Hydrogen Partnership project that are not funded by the Partnership (because the funding rate is lower than 100% – this solely applies to Innovation Actions).
• IKAA (In-Kind contributions to Additional Activities)
  • Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe members are required to indicate additional funding for research and innovation activities fostering the development of the fuel cells and hydrogen sector. These activities should be from projects not funded by the European Union but linked to its objectives – however, national and regional projects can be included. This is to prove that research and industrial stakeholders also leverage an equivalent amount of funding (for example, in the form of staff or equipment) for research as the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.
• Administrative costs
  • These costs cover the running of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (staff, IT, offices, events…) and are shared between Hydrogen Europe Research, Hydrogen Europe and the European Commission. As per the Single Basic Act, Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe, via its members, have to cover up to 30,193,000€ in administrative costs.

In order for Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe to fulfil this duty, a mechanism has been established to collect a Project Contribution from Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe members within a successful consortium who has been granted EU funding. The Project Contribution is a fixed contribution, calculated as an equivalent of 3.5% of the total attributed grant, payable in full at the time of the first pre-payment received from the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. This is reflected in the Hydrogen Europe Research and Hydrogen Europe statutes.

This commitment from the private partners of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership is a necessary element to cover the costs of the overall Programme and is based on the individual support of its members.

1. Do I have to be a HE/HER member to participate in CH JU projects?

No, Clean Hydrogen Partnership Calls are open to all. However, Innovation Actions may require that at least one consortium member be either member of HER or HE.

Non-members are nevertheless strongly encouraged to join HER or HE to share the burden of the hydrogen ecosystem’s Clean Hydrogen Partnership financial contributions. This also adds a fairness element within a consortium since all members of the consortium participate to the effort.

2. Why a project contribution and why should I become at least a project member?

As per Council Regulation (EU) No 2021/0048 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Horizon Europe Joint Undertakings (the so-called “Single Basic Act”), the Clean Hydrogen Partnership administrative costs are to be equally financed by the European Commission, HER and HE.

HER’s and HE’s financial contribution to the administrative costs of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership are funded via a Project Contribution. The latter is an essential resource for contributing to the private sector’s share of the administrative costs of the Clean Hydrogen partnership (Staff, IT, building costs linked to https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/about-us/organisation/programme-office-structure_en).

The Project Contribution is also being applied to other Joint Undertakings and has already been applied for FCH JU 1 & 2 (previous name of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership) projects.

The Project Contribution is solely used for the payment of the administrative costs of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership.

For the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, these project contributions will be collected fully and duly from the HER and HE beneficiaries. As reflected in the HER and HE statutes, a project contribution must be paid by HER and HE members (existing and new) participating in Clean Hydrogen Partnership-funded projects. The Project Contribution should be factored into the proposal, yet it shall not be considered an eligible cost for the projects, and, as such, is not part of the grants.

A specific PPCA (Protected Project Contribution Account) has been put in place by HE to finance the administrative costs of Clean Hydrogen Partnership.

To become a HER member, please contact our Secretariat @secretariat@hydrogeneuroperesearch.eu.

To become a HE project member, please fill in the application form available here.

3. How much is the project contribution and when is it due?

A Project Contribution of 3.5% will have to be paid by HER and HE beneficiaries of Clean Hydrogen Partnership granted funding. This Project Contribution is a fixed fee, calculated as a percentage of the grant (as mentioned in the Grant Agreement).

3.5% shall be paid at the start of the project (at the time of the pre-financing of the grant).