At the European level, Baden-Württemberg and its agency e-mobil BW had applied for EU funding for the Hydrogen Valley, but came in second behind Groningen. Now one hopes for the award for HyPerformer (see p. 22), it was said afterwards.

Bart Biebuyck, Managing Director of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU), commented that work is underway to build a Hydrogen Valley in Europe similar to Silicon Valley in the USA. The Big Hit project, which has been under construction in Great Britain for several months now, is already a promising approach, but too small. For this reason, the FCH-JU launched a call for proposals at the beginning of 2019 for a total of more than 90 eligible European H₂ and FC regions. In the end, six applications were received – which Biebuyck was very pleased about – from which HEAVENN emerged as the clear winner.

Behind the project name HEAVENN (H2 Energy Applications in Valley Environments for Northern Netherlands) are a total of 65 supporters as well as the cities of Groningen, Delfzijl and Emmen. A total of 90 million euros are to be invested in this region over the next six years (of which 20 million euros will be EU funding).

“It’s all looking very promising.”

Bart Biebuyck, FCH-JU