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H2CE – Results for hydrogen-ready regions in Central Europe
The H2CE – Empowering H2-ready regions in Central Europe project, initiated and coordinated by the Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg (JSPD) as Lead Partner, was successfully completed on 31 March 2026 after three years of implementation.
H2CE supported regions across Central Europe in better integrating hydrogen into regional energy and spatial development. The project focused particularly on public authorities and regional stakeholders, enabling them to better assess the spatial conditions and potential for hydrogen development, prepare strategic decisions and apply suitable instruments at regional level.
The project was implemented from April 2023 to March 2026 within the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE 2021–2027 programme. Twelve project partners from seven countries – Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Italy and Croatia – worked together under the coordination of JSPD. The total project budget amounted to approximately EUR 2.38 million, 80 percent of which was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Strategies and tools for regional hydrogen planning
H2CE combined strategic planning with the practical testing of tools and support mechanisms. The project addressed the question of how regions with different spatial, economic and energy-related conditions can integrate hydrogen into their development and planning processes.
To this end, common guidelines for the development of regional hydrogen strategies and action plans were prepared and applied in the participating regions. This resulted in regional and interregional strategies as well as action plans. In addition, practical tools and support mechanisms were developed and tested.
These included GIS-based planning tools, an energy cell model, a funding approach in the form of a Hydrogen Voucher, and models for regional hydrogen competence centres. The different approaches demonstrate how spatial data, energy planning, capacity building and regional cooperation can be combined.
The experience gained from the strategic work and pilot activities was consolidated into transferable solutions. These include, in particular, the Handbook for Strategic Decision-Making for public authorities and regional stakeholders and the Regional H2 Competence Centres approach.
Results for Berlin and Brandenburg
For the Capital Region, H2CE combined European exchange of experience with concrete regional activities. In addition to coordinating the overall project, JSPD led the work package on strategic hydrogen planning and was responsible for bringing together the regional analyses and developing common guidelines and a transnational strategy.
Two further partners from Brandenburg were directly involved in H2CE: Regionalentwicklungsgesellschaft Nordwestbrandenburg and Stadt- und Überlandwerke Lübben.
In Northwest Brandenburg, a regional hydrogen action plan was developed on the basis of a previously prepared hydrogen potential study. In Lübben, an energy cell model was tested, addressing hydrogen production, transport and use as part of an integrated local energy system. The approach was combined with a planning tool that can also be transferred to other regions.
JSPD also used H2CE to exchange knowledge and experience with planning regions, hydrogen networks and other stakeholders in Berlin and Brandenburg. The project results therefore also contribute to the continued consideration of the spatial requirements of a future hydrogen economy in the Capital Region.
European knowledge transfer and long-term use of the results
A key objective of H2CE was to make the experience gained in the participating regions available beyond the individual pilot areas. For this purpose, the H2CE Collaboration Platform was established. It brings together strategies, planning tools, pilot approaches, capacity-building materials and other project results and remains available after the end of the project.
At the same time, the project established a transnational network of hydrogen-ready regions, connecting public authorities, regional organisations, research institutions, energy-sector stakeholders and other actors from the participating regions.
The project results and the cooperation structures established through H2CE can therefore continue to be used beyond the project’s lifetime.
Continuing H2CE results through HyAdvanCE
The approaches developed in H2CE continue to be used after the project’s completion. The HyAdvanCE – Advancing Hydrogen Planning in Central Europe project, also initiated and coordinated by JSPD as Lead Partner, builds on key H2CE results and combines them with results from other European hydrogen projects.
HyAdvanCE places a stronger focus on cross-border hydrogen planning. Existing strategies, methods and tools are applied in new territorial contexts, while the experience gained from their application is used to develop transferable planning approaches. For JSPD, a particular focus is on German-Polish cooperation in the East Brandenburg–Western Pomerania area.
H2CE thus also provides an important technical and methodological basis for JSPD’s continued European cooperation on hydrogen and spatial development.
Further information
The project results, strategies, tools and solutions remain available via the H2CE Collaboration Platform.
Further information on the completed project is available on the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE project website: H2CE – Empowering H2-ready regions in Central Europe
Contact
Pedro Brosei
Dr. Jürgen Neumüller