Renewable hydrogen combined with large scale underground storage enables transportation of energy through time, balancing out the impacts of variable renewable energy production. While storing pure hydrogen in salt caverns has been practiced since the 70s in Europe, it has never been carried out anywhere in depleted fields or aquifers. Technical developments are needed to validate these two solutions. As subsurface technical feasibility studies for a future hydrogen storage in depleted field or aquifer will be site-specific, as for other geology related activities, HyStories will provide developments applicable to a wide range of possible future sites: the addition of H2-storage relevant characteristics in reservoir databases at European scale; reservoir and geochemical modelling for cases representative of European subsurface, and tests of this representativeness by comparing it with results obtained with real storage sites models; and lastly an extensive sampling and microbiological lab experiment programme to cover a variety of possible conditions. Complementarily, techno-economic feasibility studies will provide insights into underground hydrogen storage for decision makers in government and industry. Modelling of the European energy system will first define the demand for hydrogen storage. Environmental and Societal impact studies will be developed. For a given location and hydrogen storage demand, a high-level cost assessment for development of each of the competing geological storage options at that location will be estimated, and the sites will be ranked based on techno-economic criteria developed within the project. Finally, several case studies will enable consideration of the implementation of potential projects, notably by considering their economic interest. This will provide substantial insight into the suitability for implementing such storage across EU and enable the proposition of an implementation plan.

MIN-GUIDE is a project addressing the need for a secure and sustainable supply of minerals in Europe by developing a ‘Minerals Policy Guide’. The key objectives of the project are (1) providing guidance for EU and MS minerals policy, (2) facilitating minerals policy decision making through knowledge co-production for transferability of best practice minerals policy, and (3) fostering community and network building for the co-management of an innovation catalysing minerals policy framework. This will be achieved through a systematic profiling and policy benchmarking of relevant policy and legislation in Europe, which includes the identification of innovation friendly best practices through quantitative indicators and a qualitative analysis country-specific framework conditions, as well as through the compilation of minerals statistics and reporting systems. These insights will form the basis for developing an interactive, tailor-made online ‘Minerals Policy Guide’. Another key feature of the MIN-GUIDE project will be knowledge co-production for minerals policy decision makers through Policy Laboratories exploring these best practice examples along the whole mineral production value chain (exploration and extraction, processing, recycling and mine closure). Furthermore, MIN-GUIDE will facilitate the building of a sustainable minerals policy stakeholder network through this knowledge co-production and utilization in Policy Laboratories as well as through three major Conferences. These Conferences will explore the minerals governance framework, work on recommendations for promoting innovation along the whole minerals production value chain, and put it into the wider context of the circular economy. The MIN-GUIDE project and in particular the dissemination of the ‘Minerals Policy Guide’ to specific target audiences will have the expected impact of guiding EU MS and EU level minerals policy-making towards a more coherent, transparent and innovation-catalysing framework.

INTERMIN will create a self-sustainable long-term lasting international network of training centres for professionals. This project involves educational and research institutions in the EU and the leading counterparts in third countries, based on specific country expertise in the primary and secondary raw materials sectors. The network will map skills and knowledge in the EU and the third countries, identify key knowledge gaps and emerging needs, develop roadmap for improving skills and knowledge, as well as establish common training programmes in the raw materials sectors. In line with the EU's strategy for international co-operation in research and innovation (COM(2012)497), the consortium will seek international collaboration, fostering and exploring synergies with the relevant EU Member States initiatives