Furthermore, to reduce OPEX and contribute to Europe’s target on reducing total energy demand, the energy efficiency of the whole conversion chain from H2 production, transport and storage up to its final use, has to be maximised while minimising the scope and frequency of maintenance activities. Consequently, research activities under this topic should also develop high efficiency storage systems, optimally integrated into the respective application with minimal energy requirements, e.g., profiting from waste energy (heat), and with minimised requirements for operational maintenance.

The proposed novel storage solution should be validated in line with the following requirements:

• Proposed storage technologies should internally operate in the temperature range between -40°C and +120°C. This requirement does not apply to any reactors for hydrogen loading or release that may be necessary, but only to the storage containers themselves. But ambient temperature solutions are preferred also for these reactors.
• Release of only hydrogen from the storage system. The physical state and degree of purity of the released hydrogen should fit to potential applications of the proposed novel storage technology and should be listed together with those applications.
• Proposed storage system may be single or modular. The validation system should have a capacity of at least 100 kg H2 in total. It may consist of storage modules loaded off-site with hydrogen or a hydrogen carrier and transported to the validation site or modules loaded on-site. Proposals should elaborate on the option used to supply hydrogen to the storage system.
• Proposals should describe a roadmap for scale-up of the proposed technology for storage of 20 tons of H2 or more for the applications envisaged by the proposed technology, by 2030
• Projects should validate the potential to reduce OPEX (energy, water, heating/cooling, maintenance, replacement of parts, recertification, …) to a level of < 1 €/delivered kg of H2 in 2030 on the ton to 20 ton/day delivery scale;
• The safety of the storage system and boundary conditions for its implementation should be defined, since further development of already existing or the establishment of new technical rules, codes and standards for novel storage solutions is a prerequisite for the establishment of future market opportunities and business cases. The safety analysis should deliver required conditions of operation of the storage system with respect to amounts and rates of unintended possible release of hydrogen, necessary ventilation, and safety distances to neighbouring installations.
• Projects may include a work package on simulation of effects of failure and unintended hydrogen release of the proposed storage technology, validating the progress beyond the state of the art.
• Projects may implement in-situ techniques for H2 filling level and state of health monitoring to extrapolate lifetime of the storage system.
• As far as possible, critical raw materials as well as “forever chemicals” in the production chain should be avoided, favouring circular economy approaches and use of chemicals and materials with minimum environmental impact. Use of recycled raw materials for construction and operation is preferred. The necessary consumption of raw materials and their resources for building and operation of the proposed storage technology should be described in the proposal.
• A broader range of applicability of the proposed technology would be a plus. Proposals may identify and provide numbers on specific business cases.
• If one, some or all of the following are necessary for envisaged applications – a hydrogenation unit, a dehydrogenation unit, a cracker, a purification, a compression device – these, as well as all necessary auxiliaries (e.g., internal and external heat management) should be included for calculation of total system storage density, footprint, CAPEX, OPEX, etc. Hydrogenation or hydrogen processing units for loading have to be included in the system envelope only if they are necessary on-site for the storage process. E.g., a hydrogenation unit for a novel type of hydrogen carrier, operated at a different site than that of the novel storage system, does not have to be included, but may be described for clarification of advantages of the proposed storage technology.
• Progress with respect to state-of-the-art in CAPEX and OPEX, considering additional cost advantages like low footprint / cost of ground or use of industrial waste heat lowering energy cost, should be assessed in a Life Cycle Cost assessment (LCCA) of potential use cases.

Liquid hydrogen storage technologies are out scope of this topic.