The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) of the European Commission have selected the Northern Netherlands to be Europe's first Hydrogen Valley. The region, with the involvement of ECR Group member Tjisse Stelpstra, Regional Minister of the Province of Drenthe responsible for environment and energy, is preparing a grant agreement for EUR 20 million from Brussels, supplemented with regional public-private financing of EUR 70 million, for a fully-fledged hydrogen value chain. 

The HEAVENN consortium, consisting of 31 public and private partners from six European countries, took part in the call for applications in April 2019. The HEAVENN project is unique because it covers and connects the entire hydrogen chain within a geographical region. 

The Northern Netherlands is a highly suitable region for shaping an integrated hydrogen economy. The region has significant potential for renewable energy, the knowledge to convert this energy into hydrogen, the gas infrastructure to transport that hydrogen and the industry to use the hydrogen afterwards. Furthermore, the authorities, industry, entrepreneurs and knowledge institutes in the region have a widely-shared view about the development of the Northern Netherlands as a Hydrogen Valley.  

Projects that will be supported by the grant involve large-scale production of green hydrogen, for example as feedstock for industry, the storage, transportation and distribution of hydrogen and application of hydrogen in mobility and heating buildings.  

Existing natural gas pipelines will be adapted for transportation of hydrogen and new ones will be built to the Chemical Park Delfzijl and Emmtec Industry in Emmen. An underground hydrogen storage facility is planned at HyStock in Veendam. Hydrogen will be used as a feedstock in the built environment, including Hoogeveen, a residential area. Hydrogen is also being introduced in public and private transport. Hydrogen filling stations will be built for this purpose in Emmen and Groningen in addition to an existing station in Delfzijl and those already planned in Groningen and Pesse. An inland navigation vessel on hydrogen will be built and green hydrogen will be used in the production of e-kerosene for aircraft. Heavy-duty vehicles are particularly suitable for the use of hydrogen and this is where the greatest CO2 reduction and environmental gain can be achieved. 

The Hydrogen Valley grant is one of the largest grants that the public-private partnership FCH JU, part of the HORIZON 2020 Framework Programme, has made available for a single project.  

This grant and the regional co-financing enables the winning region to go beyond individual hydrogen projects and develop a truly integrated and connected value chain of green hydrogen. This allows the region to take leadership in the field of hydrogen and be a source of inspiration for the development of other hydrogen regions in Europe and beyond. The project, known as HEAVENN – an acronym for H2 Energy Applications (in) Valley Environments (for) Northern Netherlands – succeeded in beating several projects from competing regions in Europe.