Italy to launch €1.1bn fund for green manufacturing — including hydrogen electrolyser factories
Grants of hundreds of millions of euros on offer, but H2 technologies in competition with other green industries
Italy is to launch a new €1.1bn ($1.2bn) subsidy programme to support green manufacturing in the country, that could see manufacturers of electrolysis equipment in line for grants of hundreds of millions of euros.
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The European Commission (EC) on Friday gave the nod for the Italian government to use some of its Covid recovery funds to part-finance the programme, which envisages direct grants of up to €350m for producers of green technologies — including electrolysers used to make renewable hydrogen — to set up new manufacturing facilities.
Cash will also be available for manufacturers of “key components” which are designed for and primarily used in green technologies — such as membranes used in electrolysers — and for the production of critical raw materials necessary for their production.
Grants will be set at €150m, rising to €200m or €350m in areas categorised by the EU as relatively deprived and in need of strategic investment.
“This €1.1 billion Italian scheme will support the production of strategic equipment, namely batteries, solar panels, heat-pumps, wind turbines, electrolysers and carbon-capture usage and storage,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EC’s executive vice-president in charge of competition policy. “These are key for the transition towards a net-zero economy. At the same time, the scheme ensures that possible competition distortions remain limited.”