CENTRO NACIONAL DE EXPERIMENTACIONDE TECNOLOGIAS DE HIDROGENO Y PILASDE COMBUSTIBLE CONSORCIO

Their core work

CNH2 is Spain's national hydrogen and fuel cell testing centre, based in Puertollano (Ciudad Real). They specialize in experimental validation and demonstration of hydrogen technologies — from fuel cell powertrains for transport to ammonia-based energy storage and membrane reactors. Their work spans the full hydrogen value chain: production (electrolysis, green hydrogen), storage and distribution (pipelines, ammonia carriers), and end-use applications (fuel cells for ports, rail, and islands). As a public research consortium, they provide testing infrastructure and applied R&D capacity to European hydrogen projects.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CNH2's H2020 participation spans 2019–2021 (project starts), a relatively compressed window. Their earliest projects (H2Ports, MACBETH) focused on applying hydrogen to specific industrial settings — port equipment emissions reduction and membrane-based chemical processing. By 2020–2021, they shifted toward broader hydrogen ecosystem topics: ammonia as an energy carrier, fuel cells for rail transport, and full-scale green hydrogen deployment on islands. The trajectory shows a clear move from component-level and application-specific work toward system-level hydrogen infrastructure and multi-sector deployment.

CNH2 is moving from testing individual hydrogen components toward validating complete hydrogen value chains — expect them to pursue large-scale deployment and regional hydrogen hub projects next.

How they like to work

CNH2 participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator, which is consistent with their role as a national testing and experimentation facility that provides infrastructure and technical validation to consortia led by others. With 96 unique partners across 16 countries in just 5 projects, they work in large, diverse consortia (averaging ~20 partners per project). This suggests they are easy to integrate into multi-partner efforts and comfortable operating within complex European collaborations.

CNH2 has built a broad European network of 96 unique partners across 16 countries through 5 projects, indicating they are well-connected across the hydrogen research and industry community despite their relatively recent H2020 entry. Their partnerships span Western and Southern Europe, with strong links to hydrogen-focused industrial and research players.

What sets them apart

CNH2 is Spain's dedicated national centre for hydrogen and fuel cell experimentation — a rare type of organization that combines public-sector neutrality with hands-on testing infrastructure. Unlike university labs that focus on fundamental research, CNH2 operates at the demonstration and validation level, making them a natural partner for projects that need to prove hardware works in real conditions. Their Puertollano location also places them in one of Spain's emerging green hydrogen hubs, with proximity to large-scale renewable energy installations.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FCH2RAIL
  Their largest single grant (EUR 1.15M) and focused on building a fuel cell hybrid powerpack prototype for rail — a high-visibility transport decarbonization effort.
• GREEN HYSLAND
  A flagship EU hydrogen deployment project creating a complete H2 ecosystem on Mallorca, demonstrating real-world island-scale hydrogen infrastructure.
• ARENHA
  Combines multiple advanced technologies (SOEC, SOFC, ammonia synthesis and combustion) in a single energy storage project — shows CNH2's breadth across the hydrogen value chain.