Second European Hydrogen Bank auction receives 61 bids, including eight maritime projects

The European Hydrogen Bank’s second auction for the production of renewable hydrogen has attracted 61 bids from projects in 11 countries, with eight of the bids submitted by hydrogen producers with off-takers in the maritime sector.

As disclosed, the total grant support requested is more than €4.8 billion, four times the available budget of €1.2 billion provided by the Innovation Fund.

All bids taken together account for a total electrolyzer capacity of around 6.3 gigawatts (GWe), the Commission said, adding that over ten years, these projects would produce more than 7.3 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen. On a yearly basis, this would, reportedly, cover 7% of the EU’s REPowerEU ambition for domestic renewable hydrogen production in 2030.

Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, commented: “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. 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.”

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) plans to inform about the evaluation results by the end of May 2025 after which the successful applicants will be invited to prepare and sign corresponding grant agreements.

The agreements are expected to be signed by November 2025 at the latest, the Commission stated, stressing that the selected projects will have to reach financial close within 2.5 years and start producing renewable hydrogen within five years of signing the deal.

Note that the producers of renewable hydrogen submitted bids for support in the form of a fixed premium per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced over a period of up to 10 years. The premium is said to cover the gap between the cost of production and the price buyers are currently willing to pay for renewable hydrogen.

According to the Commission, the EU’s member states can also benefit from an ‘Auctions-as-a-service’ mechanism, whereby the results of the auction can attract further national funding for additional projects. Under the second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank, Spain, Lithuania and Austria participated in this scheme, as announced in November 2024, with the contribution of up to €836 million in national funds.

To remind, in the first auction in 2023, the Innovation Fund allocated €694 million in grants to support six projects producing hydrogen. The individual grants range from €8 million to €245 million for installations with a megawatt electric (MWe) capacity from 35 to 500 MWe.

In other news, in February 2025, the European Union (EU) unveiled the Clean Industrial Deal, a transformational business plan outlining concrete actions to turn decarbonization into “a driver of growth” for European industries by supporting renewable energy sources.

It was revealed that, in Q1 2025, the EU will adopt the delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen, to clarify the rules for producing low-carbon hydrogen in “a pragmatic way,” providing certainty to investors. Furthermore, the European Commission is expected to launch a third call under the Hydrogen Bank in Q3 2025 with a budget of up to €1 billion.