Proposal should address innovation aspects that ensure the project goes beyond the state of the art. Examples of innovations could include, but are not limited to:

• Possibly supply hydrogen to two separate users, each with their own operational requirements and managing electrolyser output both in terms of generation and storage in order to maximise the efficiency of the setup;
• Use oxygen and/or waste heat from the electrolyser for other processes at the industrial site, or from the industrial process to the electrolyser in case of SOEL;
• Concepts related to the circular economy (e.g.: water utilisation, re-use of CO2 at the site);
• Provision of grid services that help the economics of the installation;
• Footprint reduction, for example integrating hardware vertically instead of horizontally, or minimising the footprint of the electrolyser with a single balance of plant including all required utilities such as water purification, power rectification with appropriate grid interfaces and hydrogen purification, process cooling, etc.

Proposals should also:

• Satisfy industrial requirements for round-the-clock operation using an otherwise (a priori) intermittent source of primary renewable energy;
• demonstrate the economic benefits/enablers of the project for the selected applications. The consortium should demonstrate/investigate a sustainable long term business case for industrial customers who value the renewable character of the hydrogen. This should include a study on the impact of using renewable hydrogen on the final cost of the product and a market evaluation to understand how much premium the end customers are willing to pay for a renewable product;
• Provide the operating scenarios, the expected annual production, the use(s) foreseen and a detailed business case analysis. The electrolyser and downstream systems should be installed and operated for a minimum period of two years within the duration of the project; assurances for operation thereafter should be provided at the proposal stage;
• Include a plan for use of the installation after the project;
• Disseminate the technical and economic benefits, notably (but not only) to the communities of the relevant Horizon Europe private-public partnerships;
• Describe how learnings will be communicated and dissemination will occur beyond the consortium, including those regions in Europe where large scale electrolysis has not yet been demonstrated;
• Support the development of the EU value chain and competitiveness of EU industry for electrolysers, including main components, cells and stacks.