The European Commission has published the results of the second auction round of the European Hydrogen Bank. The Commission has selected 15 projects for funding of nearly one billion euros. For the first time, German projects are also receiving funds from the Hydrogen Bank's Innovation Fund.
The European Hydrogen Bank has selected 15 projects in its second auction round. The funded projects are expected to produce 2.2 million tonnes of green hydrogen over the next ten years. This should avoid more than 15 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. The hydrogen will be used in transport, chemicals, and methanol and ammonia production.
The funding bridges the price gap between production costs and market price for green hydrogen. Individual funding amounts range from eight million to 246 million euros over a maximum of ten years. Spain leads with eight funded projects, followed by Germany with two projects. The Netherlands and Finland each receive one project.
Twelve projects receive a fixed premium between 0.20 and 0.60 euros per kilogram. Most projects require support below 0.50 euros per kilogram. For the first time, the auction allocated special funds for hydrogen producers with customers from the shipping sector. Three maritime projects receive 96.7 million euros in funding. Their premiums range between 0.45 and 1.88 euros per kilogram.
Maritime Projects Receive Special Funds
The selected projects must sign their funding contracts with the European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment by September/October 2025. They have two and a half years for financing and five years to start production. If all funded projects make their final investment decision, Europe's hydrogen capacity will double from 2.7 to five gigawatts of electrical capacity.
The most extensive projects are being developed in the Netherlands and Germany. In this auction round, two German projects have received funding approval for the first time. ReGas has been promised 112 million euros for its hydrogen project in Lubmin. The EU Commission is funding the planned large-scale electrolysis in Lubmin. The electrolyser is part of the planned H₂ hub in the Baltic Sea city. The second German project is the "Kaskade" project, coordinated by the company Meridian SAS. This envisages hydrogen production with an electrolysis capacity of around 367 MW.
All three maritime projects are located in Norway. Daniel Fraile from Hydrogen Europe explains: "The winning projects in Germany and the Netherlands demonstrate that economies of scale and proximity to industrial demand favor project development."
Further Auction Round Planned
In parallel, Spain, Lithuania and Austria are using the "Auctions-as-a-Service" procedure. They provide up to 836 million euros in national funding for projects that meet the tender criteria but could not receive EU funds.
The Hydrogen Bank plans a third auction round for the end of 2025 with a budget of up to one billion euros. Additionally, the hydrogen mechanism will soon launch as an online platform for buyers and sellers.
The first auction round generated 132 bids. A total of seven projects received funding approval. For a production capacity of 1.5 GW, the EU Commission awarded 720 million euros to projects whose production costs per kilo range between 0.37 and 0.48 euros.
