Posted on 23 Sep 2022
The European hydrogen industry welcomed on Thursday the approval of €5.2 ($5.12) billion in public aid towards the hydrogen supply chain in the region, Kallanish reports.
“We are delighted to see the second wave of IPCEI projects secure approval. These projects come at the perfect moment as we strive to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” comments Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, ceo of trade body Hydrogen Europe.
The support granted under the second Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) scheme, Hy2Use, was approved by the European Commission on 21 September. It was prepared by 13 countries and will fund 35 projects, led by 29 companies including Air Liquide, Engie, Repsol, Fluxys, Iberdrola, Shell, Uniper, Everfuel, Hybrid Development, and Enel.
The EC believes the public funding will unlock additional €7 billion in private investments. It should develop 3.5 gigawatts of large-scale electrolyser capacity to produce 340,000 tonnes/year of green hydrogen, alongside associated storage and transport capacity.
Additionally, the scheme will support the development of innovative technologies for integration of hydrogen into industrial processes such as steelmaking. The ultimate goal is to accelerate decarbonisation and curb dependency on the supply of natural gas.
“De-risking industry efforts remains a key challenge to secure the private investments needed to quickly reduce EU dependency from fossil fuels and speed up emission reductions. With two IPCEIs now notified, and more on the way, we expect increasingly ambitious cooperation between European member states,” adds Chatzimarkakis.
The first funding wave, Hy2Tech, was announced in July for up to €5.4 billion, which is expected to unlock €8.8 billion in private investments. Two new IPCEI funding schemes are anticipated to help Europe’s energy transition.
Hydrogen Europe notes the large-scale roll-out of impactful hydrogen schemes will lay the path for future projects to be developed faster and at lower costs.
The EC expects to have various electrolysers operational by 2024-2026 and innovative technologies by 2026-2027. The overall Hy2Use completion is predicted by 2036.
Source:Kallanish
