On Friday 7 March, the European Commission announced that the European Hydrogen Bank's second auction for the production of renewable hydrogen had received 61 project proposals from 11 countries in the European Economic Area, eight of which were submitted by hydrogen producers with customers in the maritime sector.
The total amount of subsidies requested exceeded €4 8 billion, four times the €1.2 billion available under the Innovation Fund (see EUROPE 13492/12).
Together, the applications represent an electrolyser capacity of around 6.3 GW, which should make it possible to produce 7.3 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over ten years, or 7% of the EU's REPowerEU target for domestic production in 2030.
“This continued interest on the part of our industry reinforces the development of a European market for clean hydrogen”, welcomed Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.
In addition, Spain, Lithuania and Austria have contributed €836 million of national funds as part of the voluntary ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ mechanism (see EUROPE 13526/10).
The European Commission expects to finalise the evaluations by May and to sign the subsidy contracts by November.
The projects selected will then have to start producing renewable hydrogen within five years and will receive the fixed premium awarded per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced (intended to cover the difference between the cost of production and the price that buyers are currently prepared to pay for hydrogen) for a maximum of 10 years.
The Commission intends to launch a third auction by the end of 2025. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)