The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) has finalized the evaluation of the European Hydrogen Bank’s pilot auction to promote the production of green hydrogen in Europe. Seven of the 132 bids submitted split the total funding amount of 720 million euros between them.
The winning projects come from Spain (3), Portugal (2), Finland and Norway (1 project each), whose submissions plan with costs of 0.37 to 0.48 euros per kilogramme renewable hydrogen and scored above average in the other qualification requirements. The selected bidders are expected to produce a total of 1.58 million tonnes of green hydrogen over the next 10 years, resulting in savings of over 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe.
German submissions that were unsuccessful in obtaining funds at EU level as part of the pilot auction but fulfil all the necessary criteria will be given another chance to win a bid, financed by national resources from the German government. A total budget of 350 million euros from the German Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) has been set up for this purpose.
Hydrogen from non-renewable energy is cheaper to produce and therefore continues to determine the international market price of the precious energy source. The financial resources available for the auction from the Innovation Fund are primarily intended to compensate for this price difference in favor of green hydrogen and to further advance Europe’s transition to the desired climate neutrality.
Due to the high demand, the EU Commission is planning to launch another hydrogen auction before the end of this year. Changes to the terms and conditions and suggestions for improvement for the next round of the auction will be discussed at a stakeholder event on 12 June 2024.
Source: DIHK (in German), European Commission, BMWK (in German)
