After the Joint Undertaking for fuel cells and hydrogen announced another round of funding the beginning of summer, publishing the third Call for proposals of 89 million euro’s of fuel cell and hydrogen funding, the Commission published on July 20 the FP 7 Energy 2011 – and 2011-2 calls for proposals that include funding for the other European Industrial Initiatives of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) that are being inaugurated this year. The JTI for fuel cells and hydrogen, as the first EII, could contribute to the activitities of all the other intiatives and enhance the use of all energy technologies.
The FP 7 Energy Call Energy 2011 – 2 for example, includes € 30 mln funding for the topic ENERGY.2011.7.3-2: Storage and balancing variable electricity supply and demand. The EHA encourages the Commision, European industries and research entities participating in all EII’s, to actively explore concrete areas of collaboration to fully leverage the potential of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier and accelerate the uptake of all clean energy technologies. As national funding will be crucial to the success of the SET Plan the EHA will engage actively with its national associations to facilitate joint projects at EU nationall and local level.