The European Commission has announced the selected projects of the third auction round of the European Hydrogen Bank. In total, nine projects in seven countries will receive funding from the Innovation Fund amounting to more than 1.09 billion euros. Combined, the projects are expected to build around 1.1 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity and produce more than 1.3 million tonnes of hydrogen in the first ten years of operation.
According to the Commission, the call for proposals attracted great interest: 58 project proposals were submitted. New in this round is that for the first time, electrolytically produced low-carbon hydrogen (Low-Carbon Hydrogen) was eligible for funding – no longer exclusively renewable hydrogen.
A Spanish project directly awarded
In Spain, a single project received a direct award in this round: T2X in Extremadura with an electrolysis capacity of 9 megawatts. The award price is 0.62 euros per kilogram of hydrogen.
Through the "Auctions-as-a-Service" (AaaS) mechanism, additional projects can be supported with national funds. According to the Commission, the specific projects are not yet public. Three projects in Spain are to be invited to funding negotiations. Spain has allocated 440 million euros for this mechanism: 304 million euros for RFNBO projects (Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin) and 136 million euros for projects in the maritime and aviation sectors.
