The European Commission has selected 15 renewable hydrogen projects that will receive €992 million in budget funding.
The EU's central executive body announced this on its official website.
Projects in 5 countries will receive funds for implementation. It is expected that they will produce a total of almost 2.2 million tons of renewable hydrogen over 10 years. This will avoid more than 15 million tons of CO₂ emissions.
Here is a list of the winning projects:
Source: ec.europa.eu.
Hydrogen will be produced in sectors such as transportation, chemicals, methanol and ammonia production. They will receive funding from the Innovation Fund, which is funded by the EU's emissions trading system (ETS).
How the projects will be funded
The winning participants will receive subsidies for the production of green hydrogen. They will help eliminate the difference between the cost of production and the market price and accelerate the introduction of clean fuels. Renewable hydrogen will help replace natural gas, coal, and oil in hard-to-decarbonize industries and the transportation sector.
Of the selected projects, 12 involve the production of “green” hydrogen with fixed additional support in the amount of €0.20 to €0.60 per kg, while the other three will require €0.45 to €1.88 per kg.
In parallel, Spain, Lithuania, and Austria are allocating up to €836 million for national funding of projects in their countries through the Auctions-as-a-Service function. This allows member states to identify and finance promising projects on their territory that meet the auction's qualification criteria but cannot be funded by the Innovation Fund due to budgetary constraints.
Near-term prospects
The next auction of the European Hydrogen Bank is scheduled for the end of 2025 with a budget of up to €1 billion. Soon, the European Commission will also launch the Hydrogen Facility within the European Hydrogen Bank. This online platform will bring together buyers and sellers. It will allow market participants to exchange information and find potential commercial partners.
At the end of last year, EcoPolitic reported that the European Commission had approved a €3 billion scheme to support the production of renewable hydrogen.
