[We already have our winners!]

H2 Verde LATAM Regional Innovation Call for Proposals

The German Development Cooperation Agency, GIZ, together with H2LAC, invite you to participate in our first innovation competition for the development of green hydrogen and its derivatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.

For the German Cooperation, the involvement of the private sector and academia is key to develop a green hydrogen economy in LAC, and this Exchange (Regional Innovation Call) is an opportunity to see how countries are moving forward with firm steps towards an energy transition using the potential of renewable energies for the production of green hydrogen as an energy vector.

Introduction

The Green Hydrogen Workstream of the GADeR LAC Sectoral Network of the German Development Cooperation, GIZ, is implementing the call for proposals for the following call “Green hydrogen in academia: Bridging the gap between academia and the private sector in LAC”, which aims to strengthen the link between academia and the private sector in this region in the field of green hydrogen.

In this way, innovative ideas are sought from academia and/or the private sector related to the green hydrogen value chain, which can support the development of this new industry in the countries of the region, which need to conduct tests and trials in a specialized research center.

Objectives

  1. Support the development of innovative ideas in the field of green hydrogen and/or Power to X (PtX).
  2. Strengthen regional linkages between the academic and private sectors in relation to green hydrogen and/or PtX technologies to promote their early adoption in LAC.

Who is it aimed at?

  1. Students, or groups of up to four students, undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in universities, research centers, professional institutes or technical training centers that preferably are linked to a company interested in hydrogen development.
  2. Representatives of legally constituted ventures, alliances, joint ventures or consortiums, and, in general, private sector companies interested in the development of green hydrogen or PtX.

 

Requirements

Proposals must meet these requirements:

  1. Alignment with the Green Hydrogen and PtX Policies/Strategies/Route Sheets of your home country (where available).
  2. Compliance with the sustainability criteria of the PtX Hub Berlin: See document
  3. Propose an innovation related to the green hydrogen and/or PtX value chain.
  4. Be enrolled in an educational institution or belong to a company based in the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for ideas that can be implemented, at an advanced stage of maturity and related to one of the following topics:

  1. Renewable hydrogen production
  2. Export of hydrogen or its derivatives
  3. Electricity generation (fuel cell), compression and conditioning, storage
  4. Hydrogen logistics/transportation
  5. Blending (hydrogen with natural gas)
  6. End use (transport, energy, industry, infrastructure, agriculture/green ammonia as fertilizer, etc.)
  7. Hydrogen-related business models and/or public policies
  8. Relationship of renewable hydrogen project with communities

 

Evaluation

Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated according to the following criteria (with a point scale of 1 to 10):

  1. Relationship to the national hydrogen strategy/roadmap of the applicant country
  2. Impact on the local H2/PtX market
  3. Impact on the Global H2/PtX Market
  4. Degree of Innovation / “Specialty of the idea”.
  5. Feasibility of the idea
  6. Scalability
  7. Inclusion of social issues/just transition/leave no one behind/etc.
  8. For group applications, gender parity in the group will be considered.

 

Format of proposals

The presentation of the idea must contain:

  1. Title
  2. Background
  3. Justification
  4. Problem statement
  5. General and specific objectives
  6. Methodology
  7. Budget (lump sum)
  8. Timeline (project duration)
  • The presentation must have a maximum of 4 pages, including graphics, written in Arial, 11 pt., in PDF format, written in Spanish or Portuguese.

 

Award

  • One (01) representative from each group of students or company per selected country will participate in August 2023 in a four (04) day theoretical and practical training course at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). At the university they will be able to work with the technical equipment available, such as electrolyzer, hydrogen bus, catalyst laboratory, etc.
  • The training will be given in Spanish. The training agenda is as follows:
    1. Introduction to the economics of renewable H2
    2. Life cycle of renewable H2
    3. Production routes
    4. Applications (potential sectors: transportation, energy, industry, infrastructure, agriculture/green ammonia as a fertilizer, etc.)
    5. Electricity generation (fuel cells), compression, storage;
    6. Barriers and challenges to expansion
    7. Opportunities
    8. Examples of projects (case studies) and technical visits at UFRJ
  • Participation in a regional exchange workshop which will bring together the winners of this call, together with academia, the private sector and GIZ collaborators, which will last one (01) day, once the training course in Rio de Janeiro is completed.
  • Airfare, lodging and transportation during the training and the workshop in Rio will be covered. Food expenses will not be covered. If a visa is required to enter Brazil, it will be the applicant’s responsibility to obtain it. GIZ will not be responsible for the processing of any type of visa or associated costs.

 

Schedule

  • Launching of the call: 02/05/2023
  • Close of question period: 16/05/2023
  • Start date for receipt of proposals: 31/05/2023
  • Deadline: 06/18/2023
  • Results Presentation: 07/07/2023
  • Award: Participation in technical training on green hydrogen: end of August 2023

 

Submission of proposals

Questions regarding this call should be sent to the following e-mail address contacto@h2lac.org with the subject “Clarifications H2 Verde Latam Regional Call for Innovation.” and will be answered through a publication on the H2LAC portal on May 31st. Document already available: H2 Verde LATAM Regional Call for Innovation – Questions and Answers

List of winning projects of the call for proposals:
  • Power to Grow (Mexico)
  • Design, development and implementation of an integral national metrological reference system for the evaluation of hydrogen fuel cells, designed and manufactured with Mexican technology, and their direct application in the generation of renewable electric energy (Mexico).
  • Eco-efficient biomethanization and valorization of biofertilizer with green hydrogen enrichment as a global decarbonization technology (Brazil)
  • Photoelectrocatalytic conversion of textile wastewater to green hydrogen and carboxylic acids: New energy transition concept (Brazil)
  • Detailed analysis of alternatives for competitive and equitable hydrogen distribution promoting sustainable development in remote communities in Colombia (Colombia)
  • Integration of a sustainable power to x system for the production and use of green hydrogen and synthetic methane (Colombia)
  • Socio-environmental impacts of green hydrogen production in the Argentine Patagonia (Argentina)
  • Strategic planning tool for the sustainable development of the green hydrogen industry in Chile: a proposal from systems engineering (Chile)
  • H2 Waste Cycle (Costa Rica)
  • Development of a green hydrogen production and distribution platform for sustainable transport in Honduras (Honduras)

Congratulations to the winners!

Notice

All the results of the winning proposals will be published on the H2LAC platform, to ensure the public utility of the proposals.

Terms and Conditions

Download here the terms and conditions of the call for proposals.

Please consider that this is the official document with the contest rules.