Austria says it will increase green hydrogen production subsidies to €100m a year

The Austrian government has massively increased the amount of money it will make available for green hydrogen production subsidies, the country’s finance minister announced today.

But finance minister Magnus Brunner revealed today that from 2027, this figure would rise to €100m a year.

“The Hydrogen Promotion Act is currently being assessed and is expected to be passed quickly,” he told a press conference this morning, according to the finance ministry. “The draft envisages funding of €400m for the next 10 years. From 2027, the funding volume will be increased by €60m annually to €100m per year.

“This will increase the funding volume by €420m to a total of €820m. This can make the production of renewable hydrogen in Austria more competitive.”

The money would be distributed via a competitive auction on the EHB’s auction-as-a-service programme, in which member states can “top-up” existing EU-level auctions with their own funds for domestic projects.

The lowest bids from across the EU — including Austria — would be awarded contracts until the EHB budget is exhausted, then the additional Austria-specific funding would be allocated to the Austrian projects with the next-lowest bids.

Austria is targeting 1GW of renewable hydrogen production by 2030 as part of its national H2 strategy. It also wants to decarbonise 80% of its carbon-intensive hydrogen use with clean equivalents by the same date.

Michael Strugl, CEO of Austria’s largest electricity provider Verbund, which is majority-owned by the national government, told today’s press conference: “We welcome the rapid implementation of incentive measures as a boost for the domestic hydrogen economy.

“Green hydrogen plays a crucial role in achieving climate goals and the sustainable decarbonisation of numerous industrial applications and processes.”