The Hydrogen Bank complements other policy instruments to create a market for renewable hydrogen, stimulate investment in production capacity and enable large-scale production. Renewable hydrogen has a crucial role to play in Europe's future energy mix, particularly in decarbonizing heavy industry and some transport sectors by replacing fossil fuels. By enabling a faster deployment of innovative hydrogen technologies, the pilot auction contributes to the REPowerEU plan's target of producing 10 million tons of hydrogen domestically by 2030.
The first auction of the European Hydrogen Bank has €800 million available for the production of renewable hydrogen. Producers of renewable hydrogen can apply for funding in the form of a fixed premium per kilogram of hydrogen produced. The premium is intended to close the gap between the production price and the price that consumers are currently willing to pay - in a market where non-renewable hydrogen is even cheaper to produce. Bidders can apply until February 8, 2024 via the EU funding and tendering portal. The funding comes from the revenue generated by emissions trading.