By launching a 140 million euro call for proposals for research for its Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative (JTI), the European Union (EU) says it is aiming to help get fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies on the market two to five years sooner than had been previously estimated.

Once the selections have been made, teams of researchers will investigate bottlenecks in a whole range of applications for energy technologies; from cars to large scale power plants, as well as the whole supply chain from hydrogen production to the demonstration of the market-readiness of applications, an EU media-statement said.

Fuel cells, as an efficient conversion technology, and hydrogen, as a clean energy carrier, can be applied in a variety of end uses, from cars and other vehicles to stationary power generation in power stations and homes through to portable applications such as laptops.

Research to be funded by the programme should foster the use of hydrogen-fuelled buses and fuel cell vehicles, help develop hydrogen storage and improve fuel cells' durability, performance and cost-efficiency to make green applications such as power stations or laptops ready for the market.

The call for proposals was the second call the EU launched within its EU-wide collaborative private-public partnership that has a total budget of around one billion euro, to be invested by 2014.

EU Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, said: "The new step taken by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen JTI highlighted the continued commitment of the European Commission and the European industry to develop breakthrough technologies that would put Europe at the forefront of green technologies. Precious partnership in this area and others that were to follow in the framework of SET Plan would help the EU meet its ambitious energy and environmental goals faster and cheaper. Such investments were a guarantee for EU competitiveness and growth tomorrow."

The application deadline for the call is October 15 2009 and projects selected for contract negotiations will be announced in March 2010.