The Cretan-Aegean Hydrogen Valley is covering a defined geographical area in which hydrogen will serve energy storage and energy aggregation activities via reuse of energy stored to the grid through fuel cells as well as Green H2 Road Transport. In the future Green Marine H2 Fuel applications, as well fuel for industry via its use in adjacent traditional power plant. The CRAVE-H2 is a substantial financial investment and covers all necessary steps in the hydrogen value chain, from production (securing dedicated renewable electricity production from the 582 MW Aegean project) to subsequent high pressure storage & distribution to hydrogen filling station and potential other off-takers. The Cretan-Aegean hydrogen valleys has started and has the full support of the regional authorities (partners) that pursue a "hydrogen economy”. CRAVE-H2 is necessary for piloting hydrogen market in Crete and Greece but also located in very pivotal location where leading partner EUNICE interconnects their 580 MW Aegean Wind Energy project and their new Greek - Egypt electricity transmission interconnection allowing for cheap African PV power to be introduced into the Greek electricity and hydrogen market. The location of the main hydrogen production and the above connections is the port of Atherinolakkos which could allow future deployment of use of hydrogen as maritime fuel. The main assets /scope of CRAVE - H2 are the integration of : • Alkaline Electrolyser: +3 MWel +500 tons/year H2 from DENORA • H2 compression and storage together with HRS: 1 ton • PEM Fuel Cell: 0.4 MWel from BALLARD • Employ Hydrogen buses by local company. • Re-use of water produced from the FC • Including all installation works and required AC/DC rectifier and DC/AC converters from EUNICE • LCA / LCC and study of other H2 uses in power plant, industry and maritime applications.

Fight against climate change has its main battlefield at the energy sector. Electricity and transport are the largest contributors to GHG emissions; the trend in transport toward electric vehicle will increase pressure on the electricity system and fundamentally change its dynamics. With producers focused on their legitimate business targets, and consumers focused on security of supply and low prices, the burden of decarbonizing electricity falls on policy makers as driving force, and on transport system operators (TSOs) as technical managers that ensure the safety and stability of supply. Grid stability is a delicate equilibrium, where some agents provide stability via ancillary services (regulating voltage and frequency) and others rely on that stability (consuming energy and/or disturbing the frequency due to embedded capacitors/impedances); power producers are usually stabilizers (synchronous turbines that provide inertia against sudden changes). Penetration of non-synchronous renewables such as Wind and PV threatens to disrupt the balance, especially in islands and poorly interconnected areas, as they provide power but rely on stability provided by others; this forces the system to have lots of synchronous generators idle just for stability, which is inefficient and costly. GRIDSOL wants to change the approach: we propose Smart Renewable Hubs, where a core of synchronous generators (CSP and biogas combined cycle HYSOL) is integrated with PV under a dynamic control system (DOME), self-regulating and providing ancillary grid services thanks to firm, flexible generation on a single output, tailored to a specific location, relieving pressure on the TSO. The project will research an advanced control (DOME) to ensure operation efficiency and grid stability with higher RES penetration, and a multi-tower concept for CSP cost reduction and efficiency improvement, to provide secure, clean and efficient electricity by getting the most of each renewable primary source.