(Brussels / Belgium) – The European Commission has approved approximately €720 million for seven renewable hydrogen projects selected in the first call for proposals from the European Hydrogen Bank . The successful bidders will receive the subsidy to bridge the price difference between their production costs and the market price of hydrogen.
The selected projects are in Finland, Spain, Portugal and Norway. They submitted bids between 0,37 euros and 0,48 euros per kilogram of hydrogen produced. It is expected that the projects will avoid greenhouse gases (GHG) in the amount of 836 to 3.494 tonnes. © EU Commission
The projects were winners of an oversubscribed auction with a total of 132 bids. The companies plan to produce 1,58 million tons of green hydrogen over ten years, avoiding more than ten million tons of CO2 emissions. The performance of the electrolysers ranges from 35 to 500 megawatts. They will be installed in Finland, Spain, Portugal and Norway. German companies are not included. The bids were between 0,37 and 0,48 euros per kilogram of hydrogen produced. The respective grants amount to eight and 245 million euros.
Furthermore, under the new "Auctions as a Service" mechanism, the Federal Republic of Germany has allocated €350 million in national funding for the highest-ranked projects in Germany that were ineligible for EU-level funding but met the funding criteria. This arrangement is open to all Member States, allowing them to benefit from the EU-level auction platform and allocate funds for additional projects. The Commission encourages other Member States to also make use of this service for future auctions.
Contracts signed by November
The European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment (CINEA) is now starting to prepare individual grant agreements. The contracts are expected to be signed in November 2024 at the latest. After that, companies must start producing certified renewable hydrogen within five years. You will receive the fixed bonus granted for ten years.
The European Hydrogen Bank's first auction received bids from 17 European countries requesting more than 15 times the available funding of 800 million euros. 119 of the 132 proposals were found eligible and were subsequently ranked according to their bid price. The offers submitted were between 0,37 and 4,5 euros per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced. The Commission plans to launch a second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank by the end of this year.
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The EU is funding green hydrogen projects with around 720 million euros. © European Commission
