Local actors may source match-funding for financing their trial from sponsoring bodies at a regional,national or european level:
Europan level:
- The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) is making available a total budget of €1.33 billion (2014-2020) to support hydrogen and fuel cell projects in the framework of Horizon 2020
- Another important source of funding is the EU Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding framework (formerly TEN-T). The CEF has a multi-billion annual budget and can be used to match-fund hydrogen infrastructures
- Some EU regions may benefit from structural funds (such as European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)) which can be combined with e.g. FCH JU funding under specific circumstance (if they do not cover the same costs)
National level:
- The availability of national funding and the support level (e.g. % of match-finding) varies from country to country, but most EU countries have funding programmes which can be used to support fuel cell electric bus demonstrations
- For example funding can be sought from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in the UK, or the Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff und Brennstoffzellentechnologie (NOW) programme in Germany)
Local level:
- EU regions and local authorities also have their own funding programmes, which can be used to co-support local projects and complement national/EU funding
(For example the bus project in Oslo was co-financed locally by the municipality of Oslo and the Akershus County Council)
