H2GO Power: Selected for an EIC Accelerator Grant, Then Wound Up

H2GO Power, founded in London in 2014, developed H2Genx, described in the EIC Accelerator list as "an innovative Plug&Play hydrogen-based green energy storage system for zero-emission, safe and reliable power supply". The company worked from the Imperial White City Incubator in west London.

H2GO Power was selected for a "grant only" award in the EIC Accelerator cut-off of October 2021. We found no H2Genx project in CORDIS, the EU's project database, and no H2GO Power entry in its organisation records either, so the amount and what the award paid for cannot be checked there. The only figure we found comes from the grant consultancy that prepared the application, Alien Technology Transfer, which says it secured €2.5 million, the maximum grant available, and that H2GO was one of only five UK companies funded in 2021. Neither the EIC nor the company has published anything confirming it.

The EIC itself explains why there is no project record. In a progress note published on 15 September 2022, the EIC reported on the October 2021 cut-off and stated: "Five grant-only projects with United Kingdom beneficiaries have been rejected as Horizon Europe association agreement have not been signed." H2GO Power's award was grant only, from that cut-off, with a UK beneficiary, which is the category the EIC says it rejected in full. On our reading of the EIC's note, which names no companies, no EU grant agreement was signed and no EU money was paid.

There was a British route to the money instead. The UK agreed Horizon Europe association in September 2023 and has been associated only since January 2024. Until then, UK applicants who succeeded in calls from the 2021 to 2023 work programmes, including European Innovation Council calls, could claim their funding from UKRI under the Horizon Europe guarantee, a scheme for those "unable to receive their Horizon Europe funding while the UK was in the process of associating". Whether H2GO Power claimed under it, and whether it was paid, is not in any public record we could find.

Companies House records show that administrators were appointed on 23 August 2024. In February 2026 the shareholders resolved to wind the company up in a members' voluntary liquidation, with a declaration of solvency.

Where H2GO Power Stands Today

H2GO Power is in liquidation. After the administration ended in August 2025, the members resolved on 12 February 2026 to wind the company up, and a voluntary liquidator was appointed in March 2026 with a declaration of solvency. Companies House flags its accounts and confirmation statement as overdue. The company's website, h2gopower.com, did not respond when we tried to load it.

The Technology: Hydrogen in a Box

The EIC list describes H2Genx as a plug-and-play storage system that uses hydrogen to supply power without emissions. With no CORDIS project and the company website offline, we could not locate any published technical results, test data or customer deployments.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award promised a hydrogen storage system for "zero-emission, safe and reliable power supply". No EU project record or results are published, and on our reading of the EIC's note the grant agreement was never signed. According to the administrators' proposals, filed at Companies House, the directors said the company "did not received any positive responses from more than 200 investment firms that were approached worldwide in the years 2023-2024". Corporate finance advisers then approached "nearly ~270 organisations" about a sale or merger; "none of them were willing or able to proceed with a deal in a timely manner", and the board concluded "that the only course of action is to close the company".

1. A hydrogen storage productUnclearNo published results located.
2. The EIC grant itselfRejectedUK association unsigned, per the EIC.
3. Private investmentMissed200+ firms approached said no.
4. A buyer or partnerMissed~270 approached.
5. SurvivalMissedIn liquidation.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

In October 2024 the administrators had realised £436,704 in cash and estimated total costs of about £120,000. They said rescuing the company "could be achieved" but depended on "claims from various government funds in respect of pre-agreed grants", and they kept some employees to help sell assets and pursue those claims and an R&D tax claim. Which grants these were, and whether the EIC award was among them, is not stated. H2GO Power had won UK public money before: £4.3 million from the business department BEIS in May 2022 for SHyLO, a 1 MWh hydrogen storage system in Orkney, according to Renewable Energy Magazine, and £3.1 million of BEIS funding for its SHyGaN project under the Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator programme.

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC picked H2GO Power in 2021 for hydrogen storage and then, on our reading of its own note, rejected the grant because Britain had not signed its association agreement. By the directors' account, the private market refused to fund the company as well. The case shows how little an EIC selection is worth on its own when the paperwork between the EU and a member of the programme is unfinished, and it is a reminder that a company on the EIC's list of selected firms has not necessarily received a euro.

The Verdict

H2GO Power has not been asked for comment for this article. The reporting is based on publicly available sources, including UK company filings, the administrators' proposals and official European Innovation Council documentation.