Six of the seven projects earmarked for funding through the European Hydrogen Bank’s (EHB) pilot auction have signed grant agreements, while one project has pulled out.
With €720m ($790m) of funding granted to the seven projects across Spain, Portugal, Finland and Norway, the purse has now been cut to €694m ($763m) with Benbros Energy not progressing with its 60MW project in Spain.
Aiming to produce 65,000 tonnes of green hydrogen over 10 years, the project had been awarded €24.7m ($27m) in subsidies – €0.38/kg.
The Directorate-General for Climate Action said the project “decided to withdraw” from the grant agreement process.
The other six projects have signed their grant agreements, securing subsidies of €0.37-0.47/kg from Europe’s Innovation Fund (more details below).
The subsidies are slated to “bridge the difference between their production costs and the price that industrial users are willing to pay for this emerging product.” However, many have voiced concerns that the grants could be ineffective in the face of high costs.
Rystad Energy last month said that all three of the originally EHB-backed projects in Spain would still produce green hydrogen at $5/kg or more.
No payments will be made until the projects start production, with a five-year deadline now looming over the developers.
The projects
MadoquaPower2x landed the largest award of €245.3m ($263m) for its 500MW MP2X which could produce 511,000 tonnes in a decade (€0.48/kg).
Located in the Sines industrial zone, the project will produce green hydrogen and ammonia using alkaline electrolyser technology. Hydrogen will be transported through a local hydrogen grid for use by local industry.
Green ammonia is planned to be transported to the Port of Sines via pipeline for export and/or use as maritime fuel.
Renato P2X’s 480MW Catalina project in Spain scored big with €230.4m ($247m) for its plans to produce 480,000 tonnes (€0.48/kg).
The electrolyser plant will be connected to a green ammonia conversion facility through a dedicated 221km hydrogen pipeline. The developers expect the €2.35bn ($2.5bn) project to be online by December 2027.
Petrogal’s 200MW Grey2Green-II project in Portugal secured €84.2m ($90.3m) to produce 216,000 tonnes in 10 years (€0.39/kg).
While details of the project are thin on the ground, H2 View understands this will be a follow-up project to Portuguese-based Galp’s 100MW green hydrogen project to replace around 20% of its grey hydrogen consumption at its Sines refinery, which passed FID in 2023.
Skiga’s 117MW project in Norway landed €81.2m ($87m) to produce 169,000 tonnes over a decade (€0.48/kg). Set to be developed with Lahti Energia, the project will produce synthetic methane, green hydrogen and district heat.
Angus secured €8.16m ($8.7m) for the 35MW Spanish HYSENCIA project which is slated to generate 17,000 tonnes in the 10-year time frame (€0.48/kg).
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