The success stories of the Green Hydrogen Booster project

Description

About this good practice

The Green Hydrogen Booster project aims at developing an innovative ecosystem for green hydrogen applications in Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland – the three Northern provinces in the Netherlands. The project is led by the Centre of Expertise Energy of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen.

The Centre of Expertise Energy, the research centre of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, and the Energy Transition Centre, the testing ground and start-ups lab, provided knowledges, coaching, support, facilities and space for testing of new ideas on application of green hydrogen and business case development. The examples of such applications of green hydrogen include adjustments of means of transport with application of hydrogen as energy carrier, advancement of hydrogen application in heating boilers, improvements of fuel-cells and electrolyzes, development of off grid mobile power stations, and handbooks on regulatory environment and safety regulations in hydrogen applications.

Expert opinion

The Green Hydrogen Booster from Northern Netherlands is an interesting initiative set up with national, regional and ERDF funds. While we usually do not add project-based practices to our platform as they are limited in time and have unclear/unproven results, given the topicality of hydrogen innovation and the Green Hydrogen Booster’s novel approach, we found it to have sufficient learning value for other policymakers. There has been a lot of talk about hydrogen over the past years, but feasible business cases, especially for SMEs, are still few and far between. Therefore, it is great to see the efforts from the Northern Netherlands, where a space for learning, tailored support and, most importantly, for testing new green hydrogen applications has been set up. Notably, SMEs are also offered vouchers between 5000 – 15 000 EUR. The initiative connects students, educational institutions, SMEs, industry, and policymakers to accelerate green hydrogen innovation in the region. Other regions seeking to set up support mechanisms for hydrogen innovation and SME development in the field can surely learn from the Green Hydrogen Booster project’s approach.

Resources needed

The project was supported with a grant of € 1,2 million by the Northern Netherlands Alliance (Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland (SNN)) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and a grant of € 750.000 by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Evidence of success

The GWB increased a number of innovative applications of green hydrogen in the Northern part of the Netherlands and enhanced participation of SMEs in the development of green hydrogen ecosystem.

Potential for learning or transfer

The GWB project provides a good example of action for regional governments that is necessary to enhance the sustainable growth, SMEs competitiveness and jobs creation with SMEs in the developing regional green H2 economies.

Further information

Website https://www.groenewaterstofbooster.nl/