Dear readers,

I am extremely happy at this time of the year to look back at the outstanding achievements the Clean Hydrogen Partnership has made this year.

One of the most important to mention is the start of about 50 new projects with a funding of half a billion Euro, across the entire hydrogen value chain and of which more than 10 are dedicated to the creation of Hydrogen Valleys, that will produce combined up to 15,000 tons of hydrogen per year across 12 European countries.

Our recently published Programme Review Report 2023 gives you also an in-depth overview of the activities and results of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership ongoing projects. For further information have a look at the presentations of this year’s EU Hydrogen Research Days, where we assessed the progress in the various pillars of the Clean Hydrogen programme and discussed both ways forward and key challenges concerning research and innovation.

Earlier in September, we successfully relaunched the European Hydrogen Observatory. The observatory is the leading platform for accurate, up-to-date information which allows us to explore latest trends along the entire value chain of the hydrogen sector and contributes to science-based policy making.

In the meantime, we also finalised a series of three reports on “Hydrogen in Ports and Industrial Coastal Areas” providing a comprehensive assessment of the hydrogen demand of port ecosystems, that are expected to play an important role in the expansion of the European hydrogen market through 2050.

We have always understood the importance of working alongside regions, so we take pride of having successfully launched a call for expression of interest to establish synergies with regional and national authorities across Europe. We are now working with the selected 10 managing authorities to strengthen the cooperation in key areas such as capacity building, knowledge management and funding.

The fourth edition of the European Hydrogen Week, which we co-organised from 20-24 November together with Hydrogen Europe and the European Commission, brought together an impressive number of stakeholders from policymakers, industry and research to discuss how to further accelerate the hydrogen economy. It has confirmed the need to continue the collaboration between hydrogen research and industry, through our Clean Hydrogen Partnership in order to enable the hydrogen economy and address challenges such as the scale, speed and commercialisation of new technologies.

A highlight of European Hydrogen Week was the Clean Hydrogen Partnership Awards 2023, which celebrated projects demonstrating a clean energy success story, technological innovation, project outreach and hydrogen valleys. Have a look again at our proud winners below.

The next year promises already at least the same exciting opportunities and we will start with our annual call for proposals launch and related info-day in January; save the date and register already now.

Until then and after such a busy year, I look forward to a peaceful end of the year together with my dedicated and resilient team, and wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mirela Atanasiu