menu

H2 Twin Cities

 13,715

H2 Twin Cities 2022

Connecting communities around the world to deploy clean hydrogen solutions

This challenge is closed

stage:
Won

This challenge is closed

more
Summary
Timeline
Updates4
Forum10
Teams117
Entries
Resources
FAQ
Summary

Overview

Today there are limited regions in the world where hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are being deployed at scale. As clusters of hydrogen production and end use applications at scale start to develop worldwide, sharing best practices and lessons learned can help accelerate progress and adoption. The H2 Twin Cities initiative aims to enable this acceleration by establishing international partnerships and creating an online platform to share lessons learned and best practices, showcase partner cities, and increase awareness of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies worldwide. Priorities include energy and environmental justice, social equity, and the intent to enable concrete impact through fostering market adoption, scaling up hydrogen technologies, providing training and outreach resources, and achieving emissions reductions, particularly at the city and municipality level. 

View the Official  Application Guidelines

 

The H2 Twin Cities initiative welcomes both communities who are already front-runners in hydrogen and fuel cell technology deployments, and those who are interested but have lacked the resources and experience to realize these deployments thus far. There are two categories under the H2 Twin Cities initiative under which entrants can apply.

Category 1: Sibling Cities

Sibling cities are pairings of cities from different countries, with strong preference for cities on different continents, that are already at the forefront of deploying hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and have extensive experience and success in end use acceptance, building infrastructure, and community awareness. These cities would share and develop best practices and lessons learned to showcase to each other, as well as to other regions through the H2 Twin Cities platform, to further accelerate progress. While the focus is initially on sharing best practices to further advance hydrogen in their own regions to enable scale, cost reductions, and user acceptance, it is also expected that these sibling cities would subsequently adopt a "mentee" city to transmit their learnings and achieve further impact and value to global partners. In this regard, if entrants apply to this category, by year 2, these cities would be required to identify a mentee city to provide guidance to. This third city would be added to the initial sibling pair.

Category 2: Mentor-Mentee Cities

Mentor-Mentee Cities are pairings of cities from different countries, with strong preference for cities on different continents, that are at significantly different levels of hydrogen implementation. One city would be considered the Mentor city and would share lessons learned and best practices with the Mentee city, which is committed to future deployment of hydrogen technologies and addressing challenges of adoption. Both Mentor and Mentee cities would self-assemble and submit a joint application. This "twinning" of Mentor and Mentee cities would allow for an immediate benefit to the Mentee city. However, because it is not necessarily the case that the Mentee city's country would be able to support the initiative with funding, entrants may also consider the Category 1 route.

In both categories, the inclusion of disadvantaged communities, diversity, equity, and engagement across a broad group of stakeholders will be considered highly favorable in the selection/scoring process.

Eligibility

Any city in any country that has a demonstrated commitment to advancing hydrogen and fuel cell technology is eligible to apply. For example, the country may have a hydrogen roadmap, policies to advance hydrogen, and/or resources to support the advancement of hydrogen technologies. Participation by Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) member countries is encouraged and funding has been committed by CEM members for cities within their countries. 

Phase 1 (optional): Self Identification, November 10, 2021 through January 17, 2022

Applicants may self-identify on the H2 Twin Cities application website at any time prior to the Phase 1 application deadline. This step is optional but if cities are not already aware of potential partners, it provides an opportunity for visibility and signaling interest in serving as a potential H2 Twin City. Posting interest on the website is not required and cities may self-assemble prior to submitting the application.

Phase 2: Application Submission, January 20, 2022 through March 18, 2022

One application must be submitted by both parties (jointly) who have agreed to the terms and intent of the H2 Twin Cities initiative. Interested cities may self-identify on the H2 Twin Cities website during Phase 1 but any partnering is left entirely to the entities involved and will not be determined by the country or CEM representatives. A single city submitting an application cannot be judged without a partner city.


Guidelines

Please review the official guidelines document for the complete application process and instructions for competing.

Also see the Phase 2 scoring criteria document for more information about the scoring criteria, examples of suggested content to meet each criterion, and example metrics aligned with suggested content. 

 

Timeline
Updates4

Challenge Updates

H2 Twin Cities 2022 Winners

Nov. 16, 2022, 7:54 a.m. PST by H2 Twin Cities Team

The winners of the H2 Twin Cities 2022 initiative are:

  • H2 – TRANS – PACIFIC team: The U.S. city of Lancaster, California, and Namie Town in Japan will serve as mentors to Hawai’i County, Hawaii, in this H2 Twin Cities Mentor-Mentee partnership. Mentors have pledged to share best practices and strategies with the mentee to collectively accelerate progress in hydrogen and fuel cells. Their activities will support goals of carbon neutrality by 2035 and address mutual priorities to develop a skilled workforce and to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion, and environmental justice practices as they transition to a clean energy future. The resources and opportunities resulting from this H2 Twin Cities collaboration will focus on the impact clean hydrogen solutions can have on citizens’ lives, regional infrastructure, and the environment. 
  • Hydrogen is here! team: Aberdeen, United Kingdom, and Kobe, Japan, will partner as Sibling H2 Twin Cities to promote clean hydrogen growth opportunities to maximize local air quality, climate change, and supply chain benefits, and transition from traditional natural gas and nuclear power to renewable energy. Both cities have committed to exchange knowledge and resources to better understand how clean hydrogen can benefit their transportation, ports, heat production, and electricity sectors equitably. Through their H2 Twin Cities collaboration, Aberdeen and Kobe will also facilitate joint research between universities and students in both cities to support mutual workforce development priorities. 

Read more in the announcement


UPDATE! Phase 2 Extended, Phase 1 Reopens

May 27, 2022, 1:18 p.m. PDT by H2 Twin Cities Team

To provide more opportunities for cities/regions to indicate their interest and/or to submit applications, the H2 Twin Cities Phase 1 and Phase 2 submission deadlines will be extended and will remain open, in parallel, until July 25, 2022.

As a reminder, Phase 1 is an optional step for cities/regions that are looking for potential partners. The Phase 1 submission signals your interest as a potential H2 Twin City on the HeroX website to facilitate new connections. Once a partnership has been established, the partner cities can jointly apply for Phase 2. For more information, please view the H2 Twin Cities Application Guidelines


UPDATE! Phase 2 Submission Deadline Extended to May 27

March 18, 2022, 12:13 p.m. PDT by H2 Twin Cities Team

The submission deadline for Phase 2 of the H2 Twin Cities initiative has been extended to May 27, 2022, to allow teams more time to develop their joint applications.  

We have also updated the Funding section within the H2 Twin Cities Official Applications Guidelines to clarify the type of support (funds or in-kind support) and amount that may be provided to selected twin cities. You can review these changes under the Resources tab on HeroX. 

Thank you, 
H2 Twin Cities


UPDATE! Phase 1 Submission Deadline Extended to January 17

Dec. 30, 2021, 8:04 a.m. PST by H2 Twin Cities Team

The submission deadline for Phase 1 of the H2 Twin Cities initiative has been extended to January 17, 2022. As a result, Phase 2 will open on January 20, 2022.  

The new deadline will give you more time to identify lead partner cities and form an applicant team. We have updated the Criteria for Selection within the H2 Twin Cities Official Applications Guidelines to clarify the role of “lead partner cities” and program partners. You can review these changes under the Resources tab on HeroX. 

Thank you, 
H2 Twin Cities


Forum10
Teams117
essam kelany's team essam kelany's team
1 team member
Looking for members
gb future's team gb future's team
1 team member
Looking for members
Shannon Souza's team Shannon Souza's team
2 team members
Looking for members
Ghulam Mustafa's team Ghulam Mustafa's team
1 team member
Looking for members
Abdul Rasheed's team Abdul Rasheed's team
1 team member
Looking for members
Mohadeseh Rahmani's team Mohadeseh Rahmani's team
1 team member
Looking for members
USBCSD Energy, Equity & Outreach Task Fo's team USBCSD Energy, Equity & Outreach Task Fo's team
1 team member
Looking for members
Liam Cawthorne's team Liam Cawthorne's team
2 team members
Looking for members
Francisco Abarzua's team Francisco Abarzua's team
2 team members
Looking for members
Valgeir Ægir Ingólfsson's team Valgeir Ægir Ingólfsson's team
1 team member
Looking for members
Kim H's team Kim H's team
1 team member
Looking for members
Midlands Engine Midlands Engine
9 team members
Looking for members
H2 Aberdeen H2 Aberdeen
3 team members
Looking for members
Richard Ainsworth's team Richard Ainsworth's team
1 team member
Looking for members
GREEN HYDROGEN SOLUTIONS GREEN HYDROGEN SOLUTIONS
1 team member
Looking for members
Entries
Resources
FAQ