H2CE – Strategy for hydrogen regions in Central Europe

In this project, RLI scientists are supporting the Common Regional Planning Berlin-Brandenburg in establishing hydrogen value creation in nine regions from seven countries in Central Europe. To this end, regional, national and transnational strategies and action plans are being jointly developed. The countries involved include Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia.

Regional diversity as an opportunity for the European H2 economy

Many European regions are focusing on hydrogen for climate protection and the energy transition. One challenge in building the necessary hydrogen economy and value chains is that a lot of information is mainly addressed to project managers and public authorities are often seen as a (passive) factor. H2CE aims to empower public authorities and administrations in Central Europe (CE) to proactively and sustainably integrate hydrogen into regional planning and development. This will lead to an acceleration of hydrogen infrastructure development and a more efficient use of available resources. The results of the project are intended to support regional decision-makers in the development of a hydrogen-based energy transition. They should help to initiate a supra-regional and transnational network of H2-capable regions and implement a digital cooperation platform. In order to facilitate this diversity and complexity of cooperation between the regions, the project team will record the current status and make it comparable. To this purpose, the RLI experts are developing a question-based fact sheet that queries relevant information from the regions, such as the current expansion status of renewable energies, already active players in the hydrogen sector or specific challenges, thus creating a comparable data basis.

RLI facilitates integration of H2 plans with guidelines

Based on the fact sheets produced, the regions are developing strategies and plans for the development and networking of the hydrogen economy in various regions. RLI scientists are creating guidelines for the development of H2 strategies and action plans. The project team will also bring together the findings of all participating regions in a transnational strategy.

Project period: July 2023 – December 2025

• Development and evaluation of regional fact sheets
• Development of a guideline for the creation of H2 strategies
• Creation of a guideline for the creation of an H2 action plan
• Creation of a transnational H2 strategy for the INTERREG Central Europe region