Thursday 22 September 2022

EU greenlights €5.2bn of member states’ public support for hydrogen project

The European Commission has approved up to €5.2 billion (£4.5bn) of public support by 13 members states for the second Important Project of Common European Interest in the hydrogen value chain.

Called 'IPCEI Hy2Use', the project was jointly prepared and notified by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

It will cover a wide part of the hydrogen value chain by supporting the construction of hydrogen-related infrastructure for the production, storage and transport of renewable and low carbon hydrogen and the development of innovative and more sustainable technologies for the integration of hydrogen into the industrial processes of multiple sectors.

That includes especially those that are more challenging to decarbonise, such as steel, cement and glass.

The IPCEI is expected to boost the supply of renewable and low carbon hydrogen, helping reduce dependency on the supply of natural gas.

The Commission states: "All 35 projects part on the IPCEI are highly ambitious, as they aim at developing technologies and infrastructure that go beyond what the market currently offers and will allow major improvements in performance, safety, environmental impact, as well as on cost efficiencies.

"The IPCEI also involves significant technological and financial risks. Therefore, public support is necessary to provide incentives to companies to carry out the investment."

A total of 29 companies with activities in one or more member states, including SMEs and start-ups, will participate in 35 projects.

Various large-scale electrolysers are expected to be operational by 2024/26 and many innovative technologies will be deployed by 2026/27.

The completion of the overall project is planned for 2036.