Proposals should respond to the following requirements:

• Production of at least 4000 tonnes of clean hydrogen per year using new hydrogen production capacity. [As defined in the SRIA of the Clean Hydrogen JU, clean hydrogen refers to renewable hydrogen. For the purpose of the demonstration addressed in the proposal it can be foreseen that in the early stages low carbon hydrogen could be used. However, the objective is to move to renewable or clean hydrogen as an ultimate objective in the project. Please refer to the paragraph Rationale for support of the section 3.7 of the SRIA of the Clean Hydrogen JU.], [Renewable hydrogen is hydrogen produced using renewable energy (Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001/EU)] . Due to the large volumes of hydrogen involved, production plants may be distributed across the territories involved but should share common hydrogen supply infrastructure;
• At least two hydrogen applications from two different sectors should be part of the project, with clear focus on energy, industry and transport sectors.
• Monitoring and assessment activities including at least two years of operations;
• Provision of a clear, professional, and ambitious communication plan to ensure high visibility to the public including clear, measurable and ambitious KPIs;
• Demonstration of how hydrogen enables sector coupling, allows large integration of renewable energy[1] and provides an optimum techno economic solution for the decarbonisation of the activities in the geographical area being addressed;
• Reduction of the carbon emissions and impact on air quality related to the end-uses compared to incumbent technologies;
• Demonstration of how financial viability is expected to be reached after two years of operation.

More broadly, proposals should:

• Provide concrete project implementation plans with a clear calendar, defining the key phases of the implementation of the action (i.e., preparation of the specifications of equipment, manufacturing, permitting, deployment, and operation) and their duration;
• Provide a funding plan to ensure implementation of the project in synergies with other sources of funding. If no other sources of funding will be required, this should be stated clearly in the proposal, with a commitment from the partners to provide own funding. If additional sources of funding will be required, proposals should present a clear plan on which funding programmes at EU and/or national levels will be targeted [2]. In these cases, applicants should present a credible planning that includes forecasted funding programmes and their expected time of commitment;
• Clearly and coherently present the Hydrogen Valley (across the whole value chain including hydrogen production, distribution and storage and end uses) including the investments/actions supported directly by this topic as well as other investments/actions supported by other funding /financing sources [In the context of the topic other investments/actions refer to parts of the hydrogen valley which are necessary to respond to the topic requirements and to deliver a fully functional hydrogen valley but that are not supported with the funding of the Clean Hydrogen JU (e.g. hydrogen production plant supported with national funding or HRS supported with funding from the Connecting Europe Facility – Transport (CEF-T))] which are part of the hydrogen valley to be deployed and demonstrated in line with the topic requirements;
• Provide evidence of the commitment and role of public authorities (Member States, Regions and Cities) and of any other necessary stakeholders (e.g. hydrogen off-takers) at least in the form of Letters of Intent (LOI) should be provided. The practical implementation of these LOI will be followed during the Grant Agreement implementation;
• Provide a preliminary ‘hydrogen safety planning and management plan’ [In the context of this topic this refers to an early plan indicating how safety will be managed in the project https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/get-involved/european-hydrogen-safety-panel-0/reference-documents_en] at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation;
• Ensure coverage of aspects such as replicability and cooperation between regions to facilitate transfer of knowledge across the EU with a focus on fostering replication of Hydrogen Valleys elsewhere;
• Demonstrate how synergies with existing hydrogen valleys will be ensured especially when it comes to skills and know-how exchange;
• Provide a scalability analysis that includes the broader energy system showing how the valley is expected to grow, where applicable;
• Highlight sustainability aspects in their description.

The costs for the construction and commissioning phase of the hydrogen production technologies including connection (e.g connection to the electricity grid, electricity costs) may be funded while costs of renewable energy plants (e.g., PV or wind plant) or related costs for operation of the Hydrogen Valley (e.g., electricity for electrolysers) will not be funded.