Project HI2Valley

The HI2 Valley project will establish a large-scale renewable hydrogen (H₂) economy in the Austrian industrial regions of Upper Austria, Styria and Carinthia, directly contributing to the goals outlined in the European Green Deal, REPower EU and Hydrogen Strategy. The project will achieve this by decarbonising key sectors through H₂, drastically reducing emissions in the steel, chemical, and cement industries as well as in energy and mobility via displacement of fossil fuels – including reducing the reliance on Natural gas, which Austria overwhelmingly imports from Russia. With 13 000 tons of green H₂ being needed in the regions by 2028, over 10 000 tons per year of green H₂ will be produced withing this HI2 Valley. K1-MET will participate with the project Hy4Smelt in the HI2 Valley, demonstrating the production of green hot metal from low- and medium-grade iron ore fines with green H₂, electricity and carbon.

• Establish new renewable H₂ production with centralised, decentralised, and semi-centralised approaches
• Increase the efficiency of H₂ production and utilisation systems within the Integrated Hydrogen Ecosystem of HI2
• Stimulate Austrian demand for green H₂ across key sectors  
• Reduce the GHG emissions of Austrian industry, energy and mobility sectors and improve air quality 
• Create a shared common connecting infrastructure to enable Economies of Scale for H₂ use
• Foster long-term relationships between key stakeholders and create the basis for job security in the regions
• Increase public awareness and skills of H₂ technologies and their benefits through targeted outreach, education, and engagement initiatives
• Develop and test regulatory frameworks for hydrogen deployment within HI2