On Friday 27 September, the European Commission published the conditions for the second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank (see EUROPE 13402/7), financed by revenues from the Emissions Trading System via the Innovation Fund.
As previously announced (see EUROPE 13447/8), the budget for this second auction could reach €1.2 billion. The first pilot auction, which closed in February 2024, selected seven projects for a total of €720 million in support.
The successful bidders will receive, as they did the first time, a fixed premium in €/kg of renewable hydrogen produced, over ten years of operation.
To support the decarbonisation of the maritime transport sector, €200 million of the €1.2 billion is reserved exclusively for producers who will sell their renewable hydrogen to buyers in the maritime sector.
Based on the lessons learned from the first auction, a new “resilience” criterion has been introduced (see EUROPE 13473/16). Tenderers must therefore meet new requirements aimed at “ensuring security of supply for essential goods and contributing to Europe's industrial leadership and competitiveness”.
In view of the large Chinese production capacity, projects must limit the supply of electrolyser cells (including surface treatment, production of cell units and assembly) from China to a maximum of 25% (in MWe) to meet this criterion.
In addition, the price ceiling for supply has been revised from €4.5/kg to €4/kg.
To see the conditions: https://aeur.eu/f/dmn (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)