DATS 24

Their core work

DATS 24 is a Belgian energy services company operating fuel and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, part of the Colruyt Group retail and energy ecosystem. Their H2020 involvement as a third party in both projects strongly suggests they contribute real-world deployment infrastructure — hydrogen dispensing stations, on-site energy facilities, or operational testing environments — rather than performing laboratory research. Their projects span two distinct clean energy domains: zero-emission heavy-duty road transport (H2Haul) and decentralized renewable energy production on farms (HyPErFarm), positioning them as a practical bridge between emerging hydrogen technologies and end-use applications. For partners seeking a deployment-side actor who can validate hydrogen or solar-hydrogen systems in operational conditions in Belgium, DATS 24 offers direct infrastructure access.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

DATS 24's earliest H2020 engagement (2019, H2Haul) was squarely in hydrogen for heavy-duty road transport — fuel cells, zero-emission trucks, logistics decarbonization. By 2020, their second project (HyPErFarm) pivoted toward an entirely different application: solar-hydrogen systems on farms, agrivoltaics, and fossil-free agricultural energy. This is a meaningful shift: from mobility infrastructure toward decentralized, on-site renewable energy production at the farm level. The underlying technology thread — hydrogen — remains constant, but the application sector has broadened from transport to agriculture.

DATS 24 appears to be expanding hydrogen infrastructure expertise from mobility into decentralized rural energy, suggesting future collaboration potential in agri-energy, rural hydrogen hubs, or multi-vector clean energy projects.

How they like to work

DATS 24 has participated exclusively as a third party in both H2020 projects — meaning they were brought in by a consortium coordinator to provide a specific asset or service, but were not the driving research actor. This is consistent with a company offering real-world infrastructure access (refueling stations, facilities, operational data) that research consortia need to validate their prototypes. Despite only two projects, they connected with 40 distinct partners across 10 countries, indicating that the consortia they joined were large, pan-European Innovation Actions — exactly the type of project that requires diverse operational partners.

DATS 24 has reached 40 unique consortium partners across 10 countries through just two projects, reflecting the scale of the Innovation Actions they joined. Their network is pan-European rather than regionally concentrated, built through association with large multi-partner H2020 consortia.

What sets them apart

DATS 24 occupies a rare position in H2020 consortia as an operational energy infrastructure company — not a university, not a research institute, but a company that actually runs hydrogen dispensing and energy service assets in Belgium. This makes them valuable to any consortium that needs a real-world deployment site, end-user data, or market validation from an existing commercial operator. Their dual presence in both transport hydrogen and agricultural hydrogen applications gives them cross-sector credibility that pure-transport or pure-energy players lack.

Highlights from their portfolio

• H2Haul
  A long-duration (2019–2026) Innovation Action targeting commercial hydrogen truck logistics — one of the flagship EU efforts to decarbonize heavy freight, where DATS 24's hydrogen fueling infrastructure plays a direct operational role.
• HyPErFarm
  An unusual project combining agrivoltaics and on-farm hydrogen electrification, signaling DATS 24's expansion into rural clean energy beyond their core transport domain.