The European Commission has launched the second European Hydrogen Bank auction.
The auction, designed to accelerate production of renewable auctions in the European Economic Area, allocates €1.2 billion from EU Emissions Trading System revenues.
The budget, €400 million higher than the first auction, consists of €1 billion for projects supporting renewable hydrogen production regardless of the sector, with €200 million specifically for projects with off-takers in the maritime sector.
Applicants can apply until Feb. 20, 2025. Successful bidders will sign grant agreements within nine months from the call closure.
The commission has also launched funding calls for net-zero technologies at €2.4 billion and for electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing at €1 billion. Bidding for both streams is open until April 24, 2025. It said the hydrogen auction and batteries call will include specific resilience criteria to protect Europe against dependency on a single supplier.
“By investing more than €4.5 billion in clean technologies at the very beginning of the mandate, the Commission is showing its commitment to deliver on its decarbonization objectives, and to support European industries’ competitiveness in key strategic sectors,” said Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for the Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
The European Hydrogen Bank’s first auction launched in November 2023 with a ceiling price of €4.50/kg of renewable hydrogen produced. It attracted 132 bids for 8.5 GW of electrolyzer capacity, surpassing the available budget.
In May, the commission awarded nearly €720 million to seven projects across Finland, Norway, Portugal and Spain. They submitted bids between €0.37/kg and €0.48/kg and plan to produce 1.58 million tons of renewable hydrogen over 10 years.
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