Estonia was selected amongst the first group of Project tHrive regions

Last year, over 1000 projects were submitted to the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance (ECH2A) pipeline and as the map shows, Estonian stakeholders were very active from production to consumption. This was further bolstered by the Estonian hydrogen IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) submissions.

As active hydrogen regions will play a key role in the deployment of large-scale hydrogen projects the European Commission has identified Estonia amongst the first group following an assessment of projects. The two other selected regions are: Auvergne-Rhône-Alps in France and the northern region of Asturias from Spain. More will be added based on assessments and contacts with authorities in EU countries.

In the next step, together with the relevant national/regional authorities, the European Commission will invite stakeholders with (planned) hydrogen projects in these regions to a seminar to present them, discuss bottlenecks and examine how development can be accelerated. Other interested Alliance members will be welcome to attend as well. This will lead to tailored actions to advance the development, whether it’s infrastructure planning, project financing, matchmaking or regulations. With this Initiative the European Commission will make a concrete contribution to accelerating the large-scale deployment of Hydrogen.

The Estonian Association of Hydrogen Technologies continues to support the stakeholders and government in facilitating these activities and for Estonia to become a lighthouse hydrogen region via the Estonian Hydrogen Valley initiative as the large-scale project to enable country-wide cross-border deployment amongst the TEN-T corridor from large scale production potential to end-use with Aviation, Maritime and Rail amongst key innovation opportunities in Estonia.