North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley

A European hydrogen ecosystem

The project’s main goal is the creation of a hydrogen-based economic, social and industrial ecosystem based on the capacity of the quadruple helix actors. This will drive economic growth, generating new job opportunities within the framework of both the green and digital transitions and, by creating the conditions for wider EU replicability, it will contribute to the creation of a European Hydrogen Economy.

To fulfil these objectives, the NAHV project involves a well-rooted partnership of 37 organisations (of which two are in Hydrogen Europe, and three in Hydrogen Europe Research), covering the transnational Central European area of three territories – Slovenia, Croatia and the FVG Region, demonstrating cross-border integration of hydrogen production, distribution and consumption, and building up capacities for an annual hydrogen production of over 5000 tons of which over 20% is expected to be exchanged within the area of the NAHV.

The project will activate 17 testbed applications in their related ecosystems, clustered in three main pillars – hard-to-abate industries and the energy and transport sectors. These will act as real-life cases for piloting global hydrogen markets, moving from Technology Readiness level (TRL) 6 at the beginning to TRL 8 by the end of the project. Four fuel cell applications in the energy and transport sectors will be demonstrated. Testbeds will then be scaled up to the industrial level as a replicable model, contributing to the decarbonisation of the three territories by harnessing renewables to improve system resilience, security of supply, and energy independence. Replicability will also be ensured for the whole NAHV model, with the uptake of at least five additional hydrogen valleys in Europe, particularly in Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Origins of the transnational cooperation

The North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley (NAHV) is a Horizon Europe project supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. It is a response to an initiative launched by the industry players of the target region, who requested a coordinated action for the evolution of a cross-regional innovation ecosystem at the first Ecosystem North Adriatic Conference in Nova Gorica in autumn 2021, organised by ECUBES, one of the project partners, in cooperation with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and Hydrogen Europe Research, and supported by industry associations from the three participating countries.