On Tuesday, 20 May, the European Commission announced that 15 renewable hydrogen production projects spread across five countries (Spain, Germany, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands) had been selected as part of the second European Hydrogen Bank auction (see EUROPE 13596/6).
These projects will receive a total of €992 million in funding from the Innovation Fund.
According to the European Commission, these projects are expected to make it possible to produce nearly 2.2 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over 10 years and prevent “more than 15 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions”.
The project with the largest bid volume is the Dutch project, Zeevonk electrolyser (411 kilotonnes of hydrogen over 10 years).
Twelve of the projects are committed to producing renewable hydrogen with a fixed premium between €0.20 and €0.60 per kilogramme, mostly below €0.5 per kilogramme—confirming the first auction’s values (see EUROPE 13402/7).
Three other bids (in Norway) were selected within a specific budget dedicated to hydrogen producers that have buyers in the maritime sector. They received a total of €96.7 million in grants and have a premium between €0.45 and €1.88 per kilogramme.
Moreover, Spain, Lithuania, and Austria will allocate up to €836 million in national funding to projects in their countries under the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ mechanism (see EUROPE 13526/10).
The agreements for the selected projects will be signed in the autumn.
A third auction—with a budget of up to €1 billion—is planned for the end of 2025, as indicated in the Clean Industrial Deal (see EUROPE 13582/1).
To see the selected projects: https://aeur.eu/f/gx2 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)