The second European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) auction has attracted 61 bids from projects spanning 11 European countries, with total grant requests reaching €4.8bn ($5.2bn) – four times the €1.2bn ($1.3bn) budget available from the Innovation Fund.
Representing 6.3GW of proposed electrolyser capacity, the projects aim to produce over 7.3 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over 10 years, which would cover 7% of the EU’s REPowerEU ambition.
Under the auction framework, projects will have two and a half years to reach financial close, five years to begin hydrogen production, and up to 10 years of subsidies, contingent on verified production.
In particular, €200m has been specifically allocated for green hydrogen and its derivatives intended for use in the maritime sector, which resulted in eight maritime-related projects submitting bids.
This auction has a ceiling price of €4/kg ($4.21/kg) for green hydrogen. Whereas in the first auction, the ceiling price was set at €4.5/kg ($4.73/kg), though no project secured more than €0.5/kg ($0.53/kg) in premium support.
The European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) will now review the bids, ranking them by bid price.
After it closed on February 20, the second EHB results are expected in May 2025, with grant agreements set to be signed by November.
Furthermore, the EU introduced electrolyser requirements with bidders required to prove that no more than 25% of electrolyser stacks can be sourced from China.
The second auction saw a slight decline compared to the first, which launched last year. The first European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) auction attracted 132 bids from 17 countries, proposing 8.5GW of production capacity, also far exceeding the budget available at the time.
Last October, the EHB pilot awarded €694m ($763m) to six out of seven projects that signed grant agreements. No payments will be made until the projects start production, with a five-year deadline for the developers.
The third EHB auction, announced under the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal last week, will be launched with a €1bn ($1.05bn) budget.
“The amount of bids in this second auction under the European Hydrogen Bank again shows the attractiveness of the Innovation Fund as a tool for Europe’s industrial decarbonisation and competitiveness,” explained Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth.
“This continued appetite from our industry reinforces the development of a European market for clean hydrogen. As a key driver of our goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, hydrogen plays a crucial role in cutting emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.
“It will strengthen Europe’s industrial leadership in emerging clean technologies, ensuring long-term economic resilience and global competitiveness,” Hoekstra added.
EU’s €1.2bn hydrogen auction calls for innovation, compliance and transparency
The European Commission’s upcoming €1.2bn ($1.25bn) European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) auction looks set to make waves in green hydrogen as the bloc pushes for an EU-centric supply chain.
Launched in October, the formally named IF24 Renewable Hydrogen Auction will use revenues from the EU’s Emission Trading System (ETS) to support the production of hydrogen classed as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Despite the IF24 auction falling short of its original budget by €1bn ($1.04bn), it represents an increase of €400m ($417m) from the pilot IF23 auction. Around €1bn of the funding will be allocated regardless of end-use sectors, further underlining IF24’s broadened scope and ambition.
Access to greater financial support will allow green hydrogen efforts to be scaled up considerably and better secure final investment decisions (FIDs) for new projects. This will help European low-carbon producers compete globally and scale beyond pilot electrolyser projects.
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