The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCHJU) published the 2018 Call for Proposals. The Call documentation can be accessed on the FCHJU website.
This Call for Proposals has a budget of €73M and has five objectives:
- reduce the production cost of fuel cell systems to be used in transport applications, while increasing their lifetime to levels competitive with conventional technologies
- increase the electrical efficiency and the durability of the different fuel cells used for CHP and power only production, while reducing costs, to levels competitive with conventional technologies
- increase the energy efficiency of production of hydrogen mainly from water electrolysis and renewable sources while reducing operating and capital costs, so that the combined system of the hydrogen production and the conversion using the fuel cell system is competitive with the alternatives available in the marketplace
- demonstrate on a large scale the feasibility of using hydrogen to support integration of renewable energy sources into the energy systems, including through its use as a competitive energy storage medium for electricity produced from renewable energy sources
- reduce the use of the EU defined “Critical raw materials”, for example via low platinum resources, and through recycling or reducing or avoiding the use of rare earth elements
20 Call topics have been defined to achieve these objectives. The details of the Call topics can be found in the Annual Work Plan.
UK organisations continue to be eligible to receive funding from Horizon 2020, of which FCHJU is a part. The Treasury has confirmed that it will underwrite funding for approved Horizon 2020 projects applied for before the UK leaves the European Union. Please contact the EU Energy Focus team if you have any questions about UK eligibility or the underwrite.
An Information Day on the 2018 Calls will take place in Brussels on Friday 26th January. The event is fully booked but can be viewed online. The link to the online broadcast will be published on the FCHJU website.