EU Hydrogen Valley PDA Call 2026 is open now
The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has opened its second 2026 call for Project Development Assistance, giving Latvian hydrogen valley developers a practical route to strengthen commercial, technical, regulatory and governance readiness before final investment decisions. With Latvia explicitly included in the EU-13 track and hydrogen derivatives also in scope, this is a timely opening for mature cross-sector projects built around ports, industry, mobility and regional energy systems.
NEWS
HydrogenLatvia
4/22/20264 min read
A practical EU route for hydrogen valleys in Latvia
A useful new window has opened for Latvian hydrogen project developers. On 20 April 2026, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership launched the second call for Project Development Assistance, or PDA, for Hydrogen Valleys, with up to 13 support packages available for projects in EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe. This is not a grant call in the usual sense. It is tailored expert assistance, provided at no cost to selected applicants, aimed at moving hydrogen valleys closer to final investment decision across commercial, technical, regulatory and governance workstreams.
For Latvian stakeholders, the signal is especially relevant. Latvia is explicitly listed among the EU-13 countries in this call, which means Latvian early-stage valley concepts can compete in a dedicated PDA light track reserved for EU-13 locations. At the same time, more mature Latvian concepts are fully eligible to apply for PDA plus under the wider European track, provided they meet the maturity conditions. That creates room both for valleys still shaping their pre-feasibility case and for projects already moving toward bankable structuring.
New opportunities for the Latvian hydrogen market
The hydrogen valley model is well aligned with the kind of project logic Latvia increasingly needs. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership defines hydrogen valleys as geographically focused ecosystems that connect several steps of the value chain and serve more than one end use, with examples ranging from industrial clusters and ports to airports and cross-border corridors. In practical terms, that means Latvia’s strongest candidates are unlikely to be isolated production projects. They are more likely to be integrated concepts linking production, storage, distribution and offtake across industry, mobility, energy services and e-fuels.
That is also why this call deserves attention beyond classic hydrogen developers. Regional authorities, umbrella organizations and valley project developers can all apply, as long as one lead entity submits on behalf of the valley. The support is designed for the valley as a whole rather than for a single stand-alone asset, which makes it particularly relevant for Latvian consortia trying to bring together ports, municipalities, industrial consumers, logistics players, renewable power integration and future derivative production into one investable platform.
Call details
The submission deadline is 26 June 2026 at 23:59 CET, and the application must be submitted through the PDA portal in English. The official timetable points to evaluation results in mid-July 2026, followed by a mandatory scoping phase for successful applicants, with the first batch of PDA support expected to start at the beginning of September 2026. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership has also indicated that virtual info days on benefits, eligibility and the application process will be held in mid-May.
The structure of the offer is straightforward. The call foresees up to 5 PDA plus awards for more mature valleys, up to 4 PDA light awards for general eligible applicants, and up to 4 additional PDA light awards specifically for Hydrogen Valleys located in EU-13 Member States, including Latvia. PDA light runs for six weeks and is intended to build a strong pre-feasibility concept. PDA plus runs for twelve weeks and is meant for more advanced valleys that already have a concept study and now need a detailed roadmap toward feasibility and FID.
Eligibility is demanding, but it is clear. A project must be based on clean hydrogen, have at least EUR 30 million in planned CAPEX excluding renewable generation, be under real development, cover a defined local or regional geography, span multiple steps of the hydrogen value chain, and serve more than one end use. Hydrogen derivatives such as e-methanol, e-ammonia and e-SAF are explicitly within scope, and even low-carbon hydrogen can be used in early stages if there is a clear pathway toward renewable hydrogen as the end objective.
For high-maturity Latvian concepts, the key threshold is PDA plus. Applicants must show that the concept stage is completed through a FEL 1-equivalent study and demonstrate a commercial date of operations by 1 January 2030. The concept study is expected to include scoping and conceptual plant design, supply-chain description, permitting plan, high-level construction planning, operations and maintenance information, risk management and a Class 5 cost estimate. Projects that do not meet that bar can still be redirected into PDA light.
What a strong Latvian application should demonstrate
The strongest Latvian applications will likely be the ones that show real valley logic rather than technology ambition alone. The evaluation weighs commercial maturity and technical maturity at 25% each, governance and operational maturity at 15%, and then looks at contribution to REPowerEU, the Clean Industrial Deal and the specific rationale for PDA support. In other words, applicants need to show not only that the concept is technically plausible, but also that PDA can remove concrete bottlenecks and accelerate the route to investment readiness.
There is another practical reason to move quickly. The first PDA call attracted 36 applications, from which 15 projects across 11 countries were selected. That tells us two things. First, the instrument is already visible across Europe. Second, this is not symbolic support; it is competitive, and applicants should treat the next weeks as a structuring exercise rather than a simple form-filling exercise.
A timely opening for Baltic-scale project development
The broader policy direction is clear. Hydrogen valleys have become a central delivery model in Europe’s hydrogen strategy, and the European Commission’s reference target is to have at least 50 hydrogen valleys under construction or operational by 2030 across the EU. The Hydrogen Valleys Facility, including PDA, sits inside that scale-up effort. For Latvia, that makes this call more than a technical assistance opportunity. It is a route to position credible local and cross-border projects inside the next wave of European hydrogen deployment.
For Latvian hydrogen ecosystem stakeholders, the immediate takeaway is simple: if a project already has a serious regional concept, clear offtake logic and multi-sector value-chain design, this call is worth close attention now. And if the concept is not yet at feasibility level, Latvia’s place in the EU-13 track gives early-stage valleys a more tailored entry point to sharpen their case before larger capital, funding and permitting decisions need to be locked in.
Source: Applications are open for 2nd Call for Project Development Assistance (PDA)