The European Commission, Spain, Lithuania and Austria are announcing new financial support for the development of renewable hydrogen via the Innovation Fund. The three Member States will participate in the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ scheme as part of the second European Hydrogen Bank auction, which will be launched on 3 December. In addition to the 1.2 billion euros in EU funding from the Innovation Fund, the three EU Member States will deploy over 700 million euros in national funds to support renewable hydrogen production projects located in their countries. The total funding mobilised by the ‘IF24′ renewable hydrogen auction will therefore be around 2 billion euros.
“Renewable hydrogen will be crucial for the decarbonisation of our economy, especially in hard-to-abate industry sectors,” said Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President for European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. “European companies need our support to keep up their competitive edge. I am pleased to see that Spain, Lithuania and Austria have decided to contribute to our European efforts to create a hydrogen market with new financial contributions. I can only invite others to follow this good example.”
In particular, Lithuania is dedicating around 36 million euros for the Auctions-as-a-Service scheme, from their Modernisation Fund budget. The country’s participation in the Auctions-as-a-Service scheme will help reach its national target of 1.3 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity and 129 kilotonnes of renewable hydrogen production annually by 2030
With these new financial commitments, Spain, Lithuania and Austria are demonstrating their commitment to meeting national and EU targets for the uptake of clean energy and supporting the decarbonisation of European industry.