Six of the seven winners from the EUR 720 million (USD 790.7 million) first renewable hydrogen auction in the EU have signed their respective grant agreements, while the seventh project has opted to withdraw.
Following this withdrawal, the remaining six winners will share just over EUR 694.5 million in grants, which will be disbursed over a ten-year period.
These funds are intended to bridge the gap between hydrogen production costs and the price that industrial users are willing to pay.
Individual grants range from EUR 8 million to EUR 245 million, allocated to installations with capacities between 35 MWe and 500 MWe.
The six awarded projects span four European countries: Hysencia and Catalina in Spain; Grey2green II and MP2X in Portugal; and eNRG Lahti and Skiga in Finland and Norway, respectively. Together, these six new plants are expected to produce up to 1.52 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen within the first decade of operations.
The project that withdrew, El Alamillo, was led by Benbros Energy. Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) is preparing to launch the second renewable hydrogen auction via the Innovation Fund, scheduled for December 3, 2024, with a total budget of EUR 1.2 billion.
