Energy communities enable collective and citizen-driven energy actions to support the clean energy transition. They can contribute to increasing public acceptance of renewable energy projects and make it easier to attract private investments in the clean energy transition. Energy communities can be an effective means of re-structuring our energy systems, by empowering citizens to drive the energy transition locally and directly benefit from better energy efficiency, lower bills, reduced energy poverty and more local green job opportunities. Through the ‘Clean energy for all Europeans’ package, adopted in 2019, the EU differentiated between citizen energy communities and renewable energy communities. Since then, legislation on energy communities has been further strengthened by new or revised EU rules. Renewable energy communities, as defined in Article 2(16) of Recast Renewable Energy Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/2001) can introduce positive environmental impacts by increasing the use of renewable energy, thereby enhancing local energy security and reducing energy import from the main power grid, lowering energy bills. This aggregation therefore increases collective advantages and furthermore benefits the local distribution grid thanks to sharing resources and to a more efficient energy distribution, respectively. Energy communities are also key in bearing the adoption of new energy technologies and practices, thus paving the way toward innovation in the energy landscape.

Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• Support the industrialisation of European Fuel Cell technology;
• Showcase combined heat and power generation based on hydrogen technologies in real life applications;
• Decentralised control of microgrids supported by real-time optimisation, which increases grid reliability and resilience, and allows for autonomous operation during disturbances;
• Contribute to demand-side strategies, which can reduce energy bills and provide overall benefits to the energy system such as stability and less emissions;
• Provide ancillary services to the overall energy system such as frequency control and power reliability;
• Empower citizens and put them at the centre of the clean energy transition, which improves lives and supports energy and climate policies.

Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (JU) Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA):

• Prepare and demonstrate the next generation of fuel cells for stationary applications able to run under 100% hydrogen and other hydrogen-rich fuels whilst keeping high performances;
• Demonstrate the deployment of the next generation of commercial/industrial scale fuel cell Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units from European suppliers (from 50 kWe to several MWe);
• Contribute to the achievement of relevant KPIs, depending on the technology that will be applied, as defined in the relevant Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (JU) Srategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) Annexes for 2030, namely:
  • CAPEX below 2,000 €/kW for Solid Oxide stationary fuel cells and below 900 €/kW for PEM stationary fuel cells;
  • O&M cost below 1.5 €ct/kWh for SO stationary fuel cells and below 2 €ct/kWh for PEM stationary fuel cells;
  • Availability of the system above 99% for systems applying Solid Oxide stationary fuel cells and above 98% for systems applying PEM stationary fuel cells;
  • Warm start time below 2 min for solid oxide stationary fuel cells and below 10 seconds for PEM stationary fuel cells.

In the context of the scope of renewable energy communities provided above, proposals are expected to demonstrate an integrated renewable energy system applying stationary fuel cells, possibly in combination with other hydrogen technologies, to supply reliable and efficient energy in at least one renewable energy community. In the context of this topic a renewable energy community is expected to have the characteristics defined in Article 2(16) of the Recast Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001 “Renewable Energy Community” even if not legally established as a legal entity.

Advantages that stationary fuel cells can bring to renewable energy communities are manyfold. Besides presenting high electrical efficiencies, stationary fuel cells can provide additional heat that can be valorised for utilisation by local industries and small businesses. They can moreover play a role in providing ancillary services to the grid, thus constituting a source of economic benefits for energy communities. They can in fact provide demand response and dispatchable power generation, and be furthermore reliably employed for backup, standby, and peak shaving applications. Last but not least, they can boost the utilisation of local resources (e.g. biomass, waste streams, etc.) and can furthermore reduce the curtailment of renewable energy.

The integrated system should address multiple energy vectors such as hydrogen, electricity, and heat and/or cooling. To this end, installations may include technologies for hydrogen handling and storage, while they should involve a fuel cell-based power supply unit, which should have a nominal capacity of 50 to 200 kWe, and whose development should stand at least at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 at the beginning of the project. The final nominal capacity of the fuel cell should be appropriate for the specific renewable energy community and application. The overall system should moreover include all balance of plant components, e.g., fuel processing, compressors, valves, as well as power electronics, auxiliary power supply for the fuel cell, monitoring systems, etc., needed for continuous and efficient operation. The demonstration of the prototype system should be performed in an operational environment (TRL 7). The prototype system should be fully (i.e. electrically, thermally, etc.) integrated within the local energy system and enhance the reliability of energy supply. Utilisation of exhaust streams like biogenic CO2 and water may also be addressed.

The renewable fuel to be used in the power supply unit (renewable hydrogen and/or other renewable hydrogen-rich fuels) may either be produced on-site or be delivered at the site. As a fuel, renewable hydrogen or other types of renewable fuels such as hydrogen-rich fuels, synthetic fuels or bio-fuels may be used.

The demonstration campaign should include the transportation of all system components at the site, their installation, and their subsequent testing for at least 3000 hours of cumulative operation in a renewable energy community (covering at least 2 different seasons, ideally summer and winter, thus, depending on the number of daily operating hours of the system, it could be split into two non-subsequent periods of 1500 hours each, yet other partitions may be possible if well justified), at a real end-user site (e.g. to supply power and heating to the residential sector, such as multi-family or individual buildings, the secondary sector, such as local industries, and/or the tertiary sector, such as administration offices, schools, university/research centre campuses, hotels, etc.).

The focus and innovation of this topic resides in the demonstration of the added value of fuel cell technologies when integrated in a local energy system, which can be either grid connected or off-grid. Proposals should build and complement projects funded by the Clean Hydrogen JU such as REMOTE^[1], DEMOSOFC^[2] and CRAVE-H2^[3]. In addition, proposals should benefit from the learnings of already funded projects in order to push fuel cell technologies to market readiness.

Proposals should also:

• Choose a fuel cell system which is appropriate for the final application optimising the sizing of the system according to the heat and electricity demand of the application within the renewable energy community;
• Integrate instrumentation for all relevant units for addressing the implementation of optimal operation;
• Address the implementation of real-time optimisation and control smart tools (for both heat and power), as part of the renewable energy community engagement strategy;
• Assess and quantify the environmental, economic and social community benefits of the demonstration (in terms of reduction on greenhouse gases emissions during demonstration) including a comparison to other technological options where relevant for the renewable energy community;
• Assess CAPEX, OPEX and operation and maintenance (O&M) requirements;
• Assess the environmental, technical and economic feasibility for scale up and replication in other renewable energy communities and include activities aimed at promoting replication within the project;
• Actively engage and seek commitment from the renewable energy community in which the demonstration campaign will take place, at least in the form of a Letter of Intent (LOI), to be included in Part B of the Proposal;
• Analyse non-technological barriers related to the integration of the fuel cell system in the (existing) renewable energy community (e.g. administrative, legislative, public acceptance) and recommend an adapted legal framework for the roll out of the technology;
• Contribute to meet the overall community demand (i.e. heat, electricity and cooling) with renewable energy based on renewable hydrogen.

The topic provides a chance for significantly rising the maturity level of hydrogen-based energy generating systems and for allowing for their further deployment in other areas of the hydrogen economy.

Proposals are expected to demonstrate the contribution to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership of the activities to be funded including but not limited to the origin of the equipment and components as well infrastructure purchased and built during the project. These aspects will be evaluated and monitored during the project implementation.

It is expected that Guarantees of origin (GOs) will be used to prove the renewable character of the hydrogen that is used. In this respect consortium may seek out the purchase and subsequent cancellation of GOs from the relevant Member State issuing body and if that is not yet available the consortium may proceed with the issuance and cancellation of non-governmental certificates (e.g CertifHy^[4]).

For activities developing test protocols and procedures for the performance and durability assessment of electrolysers and fuel cell components proposals should foresee a collaboration mechanism with Joint Research Center (JRC)^[5] (see section 2.2.4.3 "Collaboration with JRC"), in order to support EU-wide harmonisation. Test activities should adopt the already published EU harmonised testing protocols^[6] to benchmark performance and quantify progress at programme level.

Proposals should provide a preliminary draft on ‘hydrogen safety planning and management’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation.

For additional elements applicable to all topics please refer to section 2.2.3.2

Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.

At least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research.

The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million – proposals requesting Clean Hydrogen JU contributions above this amount will not be evaluated.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2025 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023–2025 which apply mutatis mutandis.

[1] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/779541

[2] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/671470

[3] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101112169

[4] https://www.certifhy.eu

[5] https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/knowledge-management/collaboration-jrc-0_en

[6] https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/knowledge-management/collaboration-jrc-0/clean-hydrogen-ju-jrc-deliverables_en