The PHOTOSINT project presents solutions to the challenges chemical industries are facing in integrating renewable energy sources into their processes. The project will deliver sustainable processes to produce hydrogen and methanol as energy vectors using only sunlight as an energy source and wastewater and CO2 as feedstocks, making the industries more auto-sufficient. The pathway is based on solar-driven artificial photosynthesis, and aims to develop new catalytic earth-abundant materials and modifications of existing ones to improve catalytic processes. Design parameters of the PEC cell will be tuned to maximize solar to fuel (STF) efficiency. Moreover to improve the conversion for industrial implementation, PHOTOSINT will develop a novel way to concentrate and illuminate the semiconductor surface to maximize overall energy efficiency. Perovskite solar PV cells will be integrated to harvest the light to supply the external electrical voltage. PHOTOSINT is an ambitious project due to precedents in research conducted to date and the low production rate of the desired products. For integrating sunlight energy into the industry, the catalyst will be studied, and then the best one/s will be implemented in prototypes. The obtained results will be used for making scale-up in pilots with tandem PEC cells. These steps are necessary to assess the industrial scale-up feasibility, promoting the increased competitiveness of renewable process energy technologies and energy independence. MeOH and H2 will be tested in engines. Also, an HTPEM fuel cell will be used for electricity generation, and hydrogen will be tested as an alternative fuel for energy generation instead natural gas in melting furnaces avoiding CO2 emissions.

The North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley – NAHV project builds on the LoI signed in March 2022 by representatives of the Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure, Croatian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Autonomous Region in Italy, contributing to the European Green Deal and European Hydrogen Strategy goals. The project’s high-level objective is the creation of a hydrogen-based economic, social and industrial ecosystem based on the capacity of the quadruple helix actors. This will drive economic growth, generating new job opportunities in the framework of both the green and digital transitions and, by creating the conditions for wider EU replicability, it will contribute to the creation of a European Hydrogen Economy, To fulfil these objectives the NAHV project involves a well-rooted partnership of 36 organizations (of which 2 in Hydrogen Europe, 3 in Hydrogen Europe Research), covering the transnational Central European area of 3 territories - Slovenia, Croatia and FVG Region, demonstrating cross-border integration of hydrogen production, distribution and consumption, and exchange of over 20% of NAHV annual hydrogen production of over 5000 tons. The project will activate 17 testbed applications in their related ecosystems, clustered in 3 main pillars - hard to abate, energy and transport sectors. These will act as real-life cases for piloting global hydrogen markets, moving from TRL 6 at the beginning to TRL 8 at the end of the project. Four fuel cell applications in the energy and transport sectors will be demonstrated. Testbeds will then be scaled up at industrial level as a replicable model, contributing to the decarbonisation of the 3 territories by harnessing renewables to improve system resilience, security of supply and energy independence. Replicability will also be ensured for the whole NAHV model, with the uptake of at least 5 additional hydrogen valleys in Europe, particularly in Central and South Eastern Europe.

i-STENTORE will examine the integration of diverse storage solutions and their combinations. Innovative storage systems will be showcased and their co-operation with the integrated assets will be co-optimized, placing the reliability, the power quality, the cost-efficient operation and the maximization of the assets’ lifetime as end-goals. i-STENTORE will introduce an umbrella framework aiming to showcase stand-alone and hybrid storage solutions highlighting the multi-purpose use of storage, not only as an energy buffer, but also as an active grid component capable of providing services and contributing to grid resilience, stability and efficient operation. The proposed framework will examine the applicability of versatile storage solutions in various applications covering the mobility, agricultural, industry, household, heating and other sectors, and in different timeframes, creating what-if scenarios for the selection of the optimal storage solutions to serve each individual application in the most effective way, promoting purpose-specific Hybrid Energy Storage Systems (HESS). To achieve this and to ensure a seamless integration in a technology-agnostic and interoperable manner, i-STENTORE will design a Reference Architecture towards an open and flexible storage-enabling European energy system leveraging storage-induced flexibility and facilitating the increased integration of renewable energy sources (RES). i-STENTORE will embrace the introduction of novel business models, towards building positive and attractive business cases for storage, identifying new revenue streams for storage operators and promoting storage systems as a facilitator of the energy transition. This approach will develop and validate the enhanced connectivity of multiple systems at different levels of the energy value chain, incorporating both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter solutions, targeting the essential empowerment of new actors and the strategic shift of the role of storage.

The glass industry will have to be completely decarbonized in the next 30 years. The lifetime of a glass furnace is about. 12-15 years. So it is urgent to start innovating because the year 2050 is only 2 furnaces away. H2GLASS aims to create the technology stack that glass manufacturers need to (a) realize 100% H2 combustion in their production facilities, (b) ensure the required product quality, and (c) manage this safely. H2GLASS will address the challenges related to NOx emissions and high flame propagation speed, process efficiency, and supply of H2 for on-site demonstrations. Digital Twin techniques will be critical for risk-based predictive maintenance, optimized production control, and combustion system control. Hydrogen will be supplied by a portable electrolyser co-funded by the industrial demonstrators, and the oxygen produced will be reused in the process. The H2GLASS technologies and design solutions will be validated up to TRL 7 on 5 industrial demonstrators from 3 segments (container glass, flat glass and glass fibre), which together represent 98% of the current glass production in the EU. The expertise of partners such as Steklarna Hrastnik, PTML Pilkington, Owens Corning and Stara Glass representing the State Of The Art (SOTA) in the use of H2 in the glass process will be an asset for the H2GLASS Consortium. A demonstrator for the aluminum industry (HYDRO) will prove the transferability of the basic solutions and underlying models to energy-intensive industries that have similarities with the glass manufacturing process, thus strengthening the impact of the project. In EU the Glass and Aluminium industries employ >400.000 people in Europe, generate > 3.5B€ and emit ca.21.5 Mt CO2e. The innovations generated by H2GLASS will potentially create 10.000 new jobs and unlock 1 - 5B€ revenues for glass technology deployment, >17B investments and 200.000 new jobs for green H2, and cut emissions by ca.80%.

Effectively combating global warming requires a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. This poses enormous challenges, especially for the energy-intensive process and production industry, as this industry accounts for one third of total energy consumption. What is needed is intelligent electrification across all operational processes. Electrification has such a large potential impact on decarbonisation because it allows clean, renewable electricity to power processes that previously used emissions-intensive technologies (such as gas burners). This means that a process that previously produced high emissions can become absolutely emission-free when powered by renewable energy. The aim of the CITADEL project is to substitute fossil combustion processes with innovative electric technologies, such as electric resistance heating, microwave heating and plasma heating. Five use cases are considered, targeting the production of refractory bricks, glass and copper wires, preheating processes in steel production and the recycling of concrete. For these specific applications, appropriate demonstration plants have to be designed, built, tested close to the process and validated. This is supported by corresponding activities to provide suitable high-temperature materials and tools for instrumentation and effective process control. Challenges regarding a stable energy supply, electrical and thermal load management or intelligent energy management are simulated by means of numerical models. This includes corresponding risk assessments, e.g. with regard to possible time constraints in terms of a continuous power supply and the consequences of supply fluctuations for process safety. All demonstration cases will be evaluated by a life cycle analysis and with regard to the effectiveness in the reduction of greenhouse gases. The impact of the technical solutions developed here for the process industry will be assessed and strategies for scale-up and deployment will be elaborated.