EU gives green light to Netherlands' €246m green hydrogen subsidy scheme
Competitive bidding process for renewable H2 production due to be concluded this year
A Dutch plan to provide €246m ($271.6m) of direct grants to green hydrogen producers via a competitive bidding process has been approved by the European Commission (EC) under state-aid rules.
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The tender — which will be open to all companies established in the European Economic Area (the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) — will support at least 60MW of electrolyser capacity and is “planned to be concluded in 2023”, according to the EC.
“The scheme will contribute to the Netherlands' efforts to achieve 500MW of electrolyser capacity in 2025 and 3-4GW by 2030,” the Commission explains.
“It will also support the EU's ambitions to install at least 6GW of renewable hydrogen-based electrolysers and the production of up to 1 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2024, and at least 40GW with a production of up to 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen in the EU by 2030.”
The Netherlands announced in May that it had budgeted €7.5bn towards green hydrogen by 2030, and in late June, this total seemed to have risen to €9bn, with €4.9bn earmarked for onshore electrolyser projects of between 500MW and 1GW in size.
However, Dutch policies are somewhat up in the air following the collapse of the Rutte government on 7 July, due to coalition disagreements over immigration policy.
“This €246m Dutch scheme is another example of how we work towards securing Europe’s decarbonised future,” said Margrethe Vestager, the Commission's executive vice-president in charge of competition policy.
“It will help ramping up the production of renewable hydrogen and facilitate the greening of sectors that are otherwise difficult to decarbonise. The aid will support the most cost-effective projects. And this while minimising possible distortions of competition.”
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