Design and industrial deployment of innovative manufacturing processes for fuel cells and fuel cell components
HORIZON JU Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022-04-01
- Programme
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- March 31, 2022
- Deadline
- September 20, 2022
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €121,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €7,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €7,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 1
- Keywords
- Chemical process engineeringMechanical engineeringElectrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Inindustrial Designmanufacturing processesfuel cellsfuel cell components
Description
Fuel cells offer the highest electrical efficiency for conversion of chemically stored energy. They can significantly contribute to an efficient use of produced hydrogen carriers and to the reduction of overall CO2 emissions. The Clean Hydrogen Joint undertaking has a set a vision to reach for 2030 accumulated fuel cell installed power of >2.5 GW with total production rates >500 MW/year. Cost reductions have been achieved as part of the FCH 2 JU but additional reductions are needed to increase the market penetration of fuel cell solutions. The stacks are still the main cost driver for the fuel cell system, additional cost reductions can be achieved through high quality level and increased automation of stack manufacturing. One of the objectives of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership is to reach stack manufacturing costs (solid oxide) of ≤800 €/kW at annual production volume of single manufacturing line of at least 100 MW.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcome:
- Cost reduction of fuel cell systems by automation of specific and time-consuming manufacturing steps;
- Increased fuel cell systems and component manufacturing capacity of European industry establishment of a European supply chain of specialised solid oxide cells (SOC) manufacturing equipment;
- Improved sustainability of the manufacturing processes and products; significantly reduce or reuse waste and lower the energy and carbon footprint.
In addition, project results are expected to contribute to at least one of the following specific (quantified) outcomes:
- Automation of stack assembling and sealing with yield >90%;
- Automation of cell manufacturing with integrated quality control measured and yield >95%;
- High speed interconnect manufacturing and coating within the specification of stack manufacturer;
- Time-efficient and inexpensive quality control procedures suitable for inline inspection.
Project results are expected to directly contribute to all of the following objectives of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA Pillar 3, Hydrogen End Uses: Clean heat and Power:
- reduction of CAPEX of stationary fuel cells of all sizes and end use applications. The target is to reach stack production cost <800 €/kW at production capacity of 100 MW/year;
- support of development of processes suitable for mass manufacturing.
In addition, due to high synergies in manufacturing of SOFC and SOEL stacks this topic will also contribute to the following objectives for pillar 1 Renewable Hydrogen Production
- reduction of electrolyser CAPEX below 520 €/kW;
- increasing scale of deployment and series production for steam electrolysis.
The manufacturing of solid oxide fuel stacks and stack components according to state-of-the-art is performed by a large amount of human force. The degree of automation for cell and interconnect production reaches 30% and for stack manufacturing stays below 15%, however the target values of 50-65% for 2026 should be reached to enable the envisaged high-volume production. The manufacturing processes reached reasonable yields but often are historically developed and not designed for automation. Re-design of critical steps for mass-production manufacturing, development of automation of human workforce and time-consuming manufacturing processes in stack and/or components manufacturing and quality control are entirely addressed by present call.
Support under the FCH 2 JU managed to create a track record of projects[1] (HeatStack, SOSLeM, qSOFC) directed towards cost-effective manufacturing of components, stacks and systems. The development in the HeatStack project showed the potential to reduce the production cost of the sealing in the SOFC stack by 90%. The glass sealing inside the stack is estimated to be responsible for about 10% of the stack production costs. In addition, the qSOFC project contributed considerably to solid oxide stack development by enhancing manufacturing and quality assurance at key parts of the all-European stack manufacturing value chain. This project concluded that a stack cost level of 1000 €/kW is achievable at production levels of 15 MW/year. The specific improvements include: increase speed of cell production, interconnect manufacturing and stack conditioning processes. Finally, the SOSLeM project helped to create a new stack production plant, making the manufacturing process cheaper, cleaner and smarter by introduction of automated laser welding, simplification of the design for automated component stacking and end-of-line testing.
The scope of this topic is to adapt and develop manufacturing processes on a prototype tool that can then serve several manufacturers. It aims at establishing a European supply chain of specialised SOC manufacturing equipment that can be adapted by several manufacturers, or even exported to overseas markets in scenario where European technology is licensed for local production in overseas territories. The supply of equipment is a market opportunity on its own, though the proximity with the domestic manufacturers supports their ability to stay ahead of competition.
The design for manufacturing and automation should be considered along the whole value chain of stack production. The joint effort on several subjects such as component supply chain, process automation, stack and system manufacturing are needed to address the challenges of cost reduction by automation and upscaling.
Proposals should address the following:
- Proof of concept, design and adaptation of approaches from automation industry, whose implementation for the production of cells, stack components or stacks, could significantly improve production process for selected critical manufacturing processes should be considered;
- The demonstration of two or more automated production steps, initially performed manually with considerable time effort, should be performed. The ones with the greater impact on costs and waste production should be considered preferably;
- Archetype for the mass production of FC, definition of a virtual production process with a high degree of automation (at least 75%) and implementation of mature methodologies known from automation industry for target production volume of at least 100 MW/year (from 20,000 to 100,000 units/year depending on nominal stack power) utilising the developed automated production step should be planned;
- Techno-economic assessment and demonstration of stack output of 100 MW/year (corresponding from 20,000 to 100,000 units/year depending on single stack power) resulting in target manufacturing costs <800 €/kWel should be provided;
- Digital concept for complete component tracking and continuous validation of virtual twins for component and/or stack manufacturing should be considered;
- Circularity assessment in technology / prototypes development should be provided;
- The IPR on the manufacturing tool and equipment is to be with the automation company, in order to enable other manufacturers to benefit from the experience and to strengthen the overall sectors competitiveness in Europe.
At least one of following manufacturing processes should be addressed:
- Sealing process of high temperature solid oxide cells: design, implementation, test of automated sealing stations for stack manufacturing with easy stack connection-disconnection and integrated cost-effective sealing process control and quality assessment for 20,000 to 100,000 units/year;
- Ceramic cell production for solid oxide cells. Automated ceramic cell production, which cover the areas of raw material quality control, semi-products manufacturing, layer deposition technology, sintering (i.e. tunnel furnace), handling of green and sintered parts and quality monitoring able for a cell production capacity from 1.5 to 4 million units/year;
- High speed bipolar plate production and coating, production related quality monitoring and comprehensive testing methods using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, if required, designed for cell production capacity from 1.5 to 4 million units /year.
By the end of the project the production process utilising automated steps, initially performed by manual working force, should be successfully demonstrated resulting in considerable (>60%) reduction of production time and costs of corresponding manufacturing steps.
Activities are expected to start at MRL 4 and achieve MRL 7 by the end of the project.
The topic is not intended to cover the establishment of pilot or full-scale manufacturing plants, or basic research on new materials, or fundamentally new cell and stack designs. The focus of the project is to demonstrate, in an industrial environment, the possibility of automating the most expensive processes, today performed manually or with technologies not suitable for the achievement of the production objectives described in the topic. The project should close the gaps for design and supply of automated turn-key equipment for production of stacks and/or stack components.
Consortia should include industrial partners responsible for: automation, quality control and stack or stack component manufacturing. A leading role is expected to be taken by the automation/equipment manufacturer/s in the consortium. The industrial partners should be supported by research institutes, which focus on but not limited to: relevant manufacturing technologies, failure analysis in manufactured components, implementation of non-destructive testing (NDT) and novel quality control methods, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for quality management, post-operation analysis of stacks and components.
Consortia are encouraged to explore synergies and cooperation with Made in Europe partnership (Cluster 7) as well as to seek for additional national funding.
This topic is expected to contribute to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership by supporting a European value chain for hydrogen and fuel cell systems and components.
Proposals are expected to address sustainability and circularity aspects. In particular, circularity and sustainability by design concepts should be holistically considered towards the whole technology chain.
Proposals should provide a preliminary draft on ‘hydrogen safety planning and management’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation.
Activities are expected to start at MRL 4 and achieve MRL 7 by the end of the project.
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 7.00 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 2022 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021–2022 which apply mutatis mutandis.
[1]https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/projects-repository_en
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
The page limit of the application is 70 pages.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
Additional condition: For all Innovation Actions the page limit of the applications are 70 pages.
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Additional eligibility condition: Maximum contribution per topic
For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to limit the Clean Hydrogen JU requested contribution mostly for actions performed at high TRL level, including demonstration in real operation environment and with important involvement from industrial stakeholders and/or end users such as public authorities. Such actions are expected to leverage co-funding as commitment from stakeholders. It is of added value that such leverage is shown through the private investment in these specific topics. Therefore, proposals requesting contributions above the amounts specified per each topic below will not be evaluated:
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-07 - The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 9.00 million
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-03 - The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 30.00 million
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-05 - The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 15.00 million
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -04-01 - The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 7.00 million
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-01 - The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 25.00 million
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-02 - The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
Additional eligibility condition: Membership to Hydrogen Europe/Hydrogen Europe Research
For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to ensure that one partner in the consortium is a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research. This concerns topics targeting actions for large-scale demonstrations, flagship projects and strategic research actions, where the industrial and research partners of the Clean Hydrogen JU are considered to play a key role in accelerating the commercialisation of hydrogen technologies by being closely linked to the Clean Hydrogen JU constituency, which could further ensure full alignment with the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of the Industry and the SRIA188 of the JU. This approach shall also ensure the continuity of the work performed within projects funded through the H2020 and FP7, by building up on their experience and consolidating the EU value-chain. This applies to the following topics:
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-07
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-08
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-10
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -02-08
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-03
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-05
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -04-01
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-01
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-02
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -07-01
Additional eligibility condition: Participation of African countries
For one topic the following additional eligibility criteria have been introduced to allow African countries to i) participate in proposal, ii) be eligible for funding and iii) ensure a sufficient geographical coverage of the African continent. This concerns the following topic:
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -05-5
Manufacturing Readiness Assessment
For some topics a definition of Manufacturing Readiness Level has been introduced in the Annexes of the Annual Work Programme. This is necessary to evaluate the status of the overall manufacturing activities included in the following topics:
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-04
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -04-01
The following additional eligibility criteria apply: At least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
Exemption to evaluation procedure: complementarity of projects
For some topics in order to ensure a balanced portfolio covering complementary approaches, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one additional project that is / are complementary, provided that the applications attain all thresholds
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-03
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-04
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-09
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -02-10
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-01
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-02
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-04
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -04-04
Seal of Excellence
For two topics the ‘Seal of Excellence’ will be awarded to applications exceeding all of the evaluation thresholds set out in this Annual Work Programme but cannot be funded due to lack of budget available to the call. This will further improve the chances of good proposals, otherwise not selected, to find alternative funding in other Union programmes, including those managed by national or regional Managing Authorities. With prior authorisation from the applicant, the Clean Hydrogen JU may share information concerning the proposal and the evaluation with interested financing authorities, subject to the conclusion of confidentiality agreements. In this Annual Work Programme ‘Seal of Excellence’ will be piloted for topics:
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-01
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-02
- Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
In addition to the standard provisions, the following specific provisions in the model grant agreement will apply:
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), background and results, access rights and rights of use (article 16 and Annex 5 of the Model Grant Agreement (MGA)).
- An additional information obligation has been introduced for topics including standardisation activities: ‘Beneficiaries must, up to 4 years after the end of the action, inform the granting authority if the results could reasonably be expected to contribute to European or international standards’. These concerns the topics below:
Additional information obligation for topics including standardisation activities
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -02-09
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-04
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -05-02
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -05-03
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -05-04
- For all topics in this Work Programme Clean Hydrogen JU shall have the right to object to transfers of ownership of results, or to grants of an exclusive licence regarding results, if: (a) the beneficiaries which generated the results have received Union funding; (b) the transfer or licensing is to a legal entity established in a non-associated third country; and (c) the transfer or licensing is not in line with Union interests. The grant agreement shall contain a provision in this respect.
Full capitalised costs for purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action
For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, mostly large-scale demonstrators or flagship projects specific equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) can exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs. This concerns the topics below:
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-07: electrolyser and other hydrogen related equipment essential for implementation of the project, (e.g. compression of hydrogen, storage and any essential end-use technology)
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-08: electrolyser, its BoP and any other hydrogen related equipment essential for the implementation of the project (e.g. hydrogen storage)
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -01-10: electrolyser, its BOP and any other hydrogen related equipment essential for implementation of the project (e.g. offshore infrastructure, renewable electricity supply infrastructure, storages, pipelines and other auxiliaries required to convey and utilise the hydrogen)
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -02-08: compression prototype/s and related components
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-03: trucks, fuel cell system, on-board hydrogen storage and other components needed in a hydrogen truck
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -03-05: vessels, fuel cell system, on-board hydrogen storage and other components needed in a hydrogen fuel cell hydrogen vessel
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -04-01: manufacturing equipment and tooling
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-01: hydrogen production plant, distribution and storage infrastructure and hydrogen end-uses
- HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022 -06-02: hydrogen production plant, distribution and storage infrastructure and hydrogen end-uses
Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs. However, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks): manufacturing equipment and tooling, costs may exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs.
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2022 Annual Work Plan
Documents
CALL UPDATE: FLASH CALL INFO
Call documents:
Application form — As well available in the Submission System from March 31st 2022
- Application form - Part B (HE CleanH2 RIA, IA)
- Application form - Part B (HE CleanH2 CSA)
Evaluation forms
- Evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Model Grant Agreement (MGA)
Clean Hydrogen JU - Annual Work Programme 2022 (AWP 2022)
- AWP 2022
Clean Hydrogen JU - Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2021–2022 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
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