In addition to launching the second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank, on Tuesday 3 December the European Commission presented two calls for proposals with a budget of €3.4 billion from the Innovation Fund to accelerate the deployment of innovative decarbonisation technologies in Europe.
What makes these three calls special is the inclusion of new resilience criteria aiming to “stimulate European industry” and “protect Europe against dependence on a single supplier”.
The general call for ‘net zero’ technologies amounts to €2.4 billion and aims to support decarbonisation projects of various scales, as well as projects focusing on “the manufacture of components for renewable energies, energy storage, heat pumps and hydrogen production”.
Member States will have the option of supplementing this call with national funding schemes, through the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ mechanism already used for the European Hydrogen Bank (see EUROPE 13526/10).
The second call, with a budget of €1 billion, aims to stimulate the manufacture of battery cells for electric vehicles.
In addition, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have launched a new partnership to support investment in the EU’s battery manufacturing sector, providing a €200 million top-up (loan guarantee) to the Innovation Fund’s InvestEU programme.
European Hydrogen Bank. The second European Hydrogen Bank auction, the terms of which have been detailed previously (see EUROPE 13492/12), aims to accelerate the production of renewable hydrogen in the European Economic Area, with a budget of €1.2 billion from the Innovation Fund, using revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).
In addition, Spain, Lithuania and Austria are providing more than €700 million, via the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ mechanism, committing national funds to projects located in their countries.
The calls for ‘net zero’ technologies and batteries are open until 24 April 2025, so that grant agreements can be signed by the first quarter of 2026.
The auction for the European Hydrogen Bank is open until 20 February 2025, with a view to signature within nine months of the close of the call.
To see the calls: https://aeur.eu/f/ely; https://aeur.eu/f/elz; https://aeur.eu/f/em0 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)