EU Hydrogen Bank Awards Over €1 Billion to Hydrogen Projects

The European Commission has selected nine hydrogen projects in seven European countries in the third auction of the European Hydrogen Bank. The projects are set to receive a total of around €1.09 billion in funding from EU Emissions Trading System revenues. The selected projects comprise planned electrolyzer capacity of around 1.1 gigawatts and are expected to produce more than 1.3 million tonnes of hydrogen during their first ten years of operation.

The funding will be provided through a fixed premium per kilogram of produced and certified hydrogen over a period of up to ten years. The third auction had a total budget of €1.3 billion and, for the first time, included not only RFNBO hydrogen but also electrolytically produced low-carbon hydrogen, as well as a dedicated category for hydrogen supplies to maritime and aviation-related offtakers.

In the general RFNBO category, five projects in Greece, Spain, Denmark and Austria were selected. In the category for RFNBO and low-carbon hydrogen, the German project “Lotse” and a Finnish project were awarded funding.

The auction results show that the hydrogen ramp-up is increasingly being transferred into differentiated market segments – from renewable hydrogen and low-carbon hydrogen to applications in transport sectors that are difficult to decarbonize.

The results therefore underline the strategic role of competitive funding instruments for the hydrogen ramp-up. The key issue now is that the selected projects move swiftly into implementation and that funding is aligned with the development of infrastructure, offtake markets and reliable regulatory frameworks. According to the Commission, the grant agreements are scheduled to be signed between September and November 2026.