HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023-1

ExpectedOutcome : Photo(electro)chemical systems have been identified as one of the promising technologies to meet long-term hydrogen-production goals as they integrate the photovoltaic and electrolysis function in a single energy conversion step. Remarkably, the direct use of sunlight to bias the chemical reaction also decouples the hydrogen-production process from power price fluctuations. Together, these provide advantageous prospects for the reduction of both CAPEX and OPEX, especially in geographies with large renewable potential. From a technological point of view, commercial photo(electro) chemical systems are expected to benefit from simplified Balance-of-Plant (BoP) architectures, enabling a market penetration at both centralised and decentralised level. Additionally, R&D in materials science should aim to discover novel abundant and cost-effective photo(electro) catalyst as well as more integrated process design promises in the photovoltaic, electrolysis and bio-chemical fields. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Development of breakthrough technologies able to harvest the renewable energy source potential in the EU regions and neighbourhoods; Strengthening the solar-energy conversion technologies EU value-chain, in terms of both innovation and manufacturing capability; Contribute to the demonstration of the first scalable photo(electro)chemical system by 2028; Execution of techno-economic analyses and/or technology-transfer scenarios for the simultaneous production of renewable hydrogen and value-added chemicals or biomass/waste reformate obtained from sunlight-driven process. Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA: Reducing CAPEX and OPEX, improving the efficiency of processes and scaling up For PEC systems, a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency higher than 15% as well as the build-up of a demonstration PEC cell with an active area of at least 500 cm 2 . Additionally, the Faraday efficiency should exceed 90 % and the cumulated operation time under natural sunlight should be higher than 500 hours; For PC systems, a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency higher than 5% as well as the build-up of a demonstration PC reactor with an active area of at least 500 cm 2 . Additionally, the cumulated operation time under natural sunlight should be higher than 500 hours. Scope : Photo(electro)chemical systems are expected to play a major role in renewable hydrogen production, aiming to compete on a medium- to long-term basis with commercial systems comprising separated photovoltaic and electrolysis modules. These systems, despite the continuous improvements being achieved at the stack cost, still suffer from expensive BoP units – especially the electrical components – that typically amount to half the system cost. In addition to that, the LCOH is largely determined by price of electricity needed for the electrolysis process. Innovative technologies, complementing the CAPEX and OPEX optimisation efforts infused to electrolysers R&D, are highly sought to accelerate the market competitiveness of renewable hydrogen. Notably, solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion systems such as photovoltaic + electrolysis (PV+EC) have been widely investigated to tackle the aforementioned issues. Similarly, in the PECDEMO [1] project lab-scale hybrid PEC-PV specimens have reached STH efficiencies above 15% (also under concentrated irradiation), active areas greater than 50 cm 2 and stability of 1000 hours, but not in one device. Improvements to such figures-of-merit have been later demonstrated in the PECSYS [2] project, where STH efficiencies soared higher that 20% on small active areas, while few m² devices operating with natural sunlight reported efficiencies of 10%. The rich academic literature witnessed up to 30% STH efficiencies for integrated PV+EC devices under concentrated irradiation, yet industrially relevan