The EU Commission has published the conditions for the second auction of the Hydrogen Bank. From December 2024, producers can bid for funding of up to 1.2 billion euros. The auction aims to strengthen the European market for renewable hydrogen.
On September 27, 2024, the European Commission published the conditions for the second auction of the Hydrogen Bank (IF24 auction). From December 3, European hydrogen producers can bid for funding. It was already announced in mid-June that the budget for the second auction round amounts to 1.2 billion euros.
Building on the success of last year's pilot auction, the second auction is intended to make a further contribution to creating a European market for renewable hydrogen. The first auction of the Hydrogen Bank took place between November 23, 2023 and February 8, 2024. According to the EU Commission, 132 bids were received from projects in 17 EU member states during this period. The total support requested "far exceeded" the available budget of 800 million euros for the first auction round.
With these investments, the EU Commission aims to make the hydrogen economy less risky with public support. Successful bidders will receive a fixed premium in euros per kilogram of green hydrogen produced over a period of up to ten operating years. The support from the Innovation Fund is intended to close the gap between production costs and the price that buyers are willing to pay for renewable hydrogen.
New Conditions for the Projects
The conditions for the second auction of the Hydrogen Bank contain new requirements for resilience. They are based on the insights from the pilot auction and are intended to enable EU funding to contribute to the goals of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA).
In addition, the projects will be evaluated based on a new criterion: "Ensuring security of supply with essential goods and contributing to Europe's industrial leadership and competitiveness". The Commission also wants to ensure that secure production processes in Europe are supported by appropriate safety and cybersecurity requirements.
Other important features of the terms and conditions for the second auction are:
- Higher requirements for the maturity level of the application
- A special budget of 200 million euros for projects that deliver their production to customers in the maritime sector.