H2CE: Scandria®Alliance to support Central European regions in a new project to build up regional hydrogen infrastructures.
Nine Central European regions plan to collaborate in a joint new project to develop spatial strategies and measures for the establishment of a regionally anchored green hydrogen economy. A consortium lead by the Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg has now applied for funding from the Interreg B programme for Central Europe. In case of approval, the project will start its implementation in early 2023.
The European Union is to become climate-neutral by 2050. With the European Green Deal and the European Hydrogen Strategy, the European Commission has created the framework for funding programmes for the entire hydrogen value chain.
The development of large-scale hydrogen and energy infrastructure by 2050 requires continuous and firmly anchored energy planning at local and regional level. This should ensure the integration of renewable hydrogen technologies across sectors and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in industry and transport. Local and regional actors and authorities will have to consolidate investments, anchor them in regional strategies and develop and implement planning approaches. For regional actors, the new developments are a challenge. Insufficient staff resources, insufficient technical expertise and a lack of strategies and procedures are hurdles for the coordinated development of a regional hydrogen infrastructure.
The H2CE project aims to support Central European regions in implementing the European requirements of the energy transition. Regions are to be empowered to steer and coordinate the process of building a hydrogen infrastructure and to integrate it into their existing spatial and regional development instruments. The focus is on the joint development of strategies and action plans. In order to reach further regions in Europe, the project results will be consolidated by means of a transnational cooperation platform.
The H2CE partnership comprises twelve project partners from Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Croatia and the Slovak Republic, among them the Scandria®Alliance members Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg, Emilia-Romagna Region represented by the Institute for Transport and Logistics Foundation and the Regional Union of Chambers of Commerce of Veneto Region.
The Scandria®Alliance will support the project by providing an arena for dialogue and exchange with related initiatives in other parts of Europe and by contributing to the dissemination of project results on the Scandria®Alliance’s communication channels.
Download the H2CE one-pager for more information about the project proposal.
