Hydrogen industry is found in the middle of a technological, social, and political boom. Despite the recognized potential of hydrogen for the energy transition, it is also true that high investments and infrastructure changes are needed for a large-scale implementation in Europe. Following the publication of the European Green Deal, public attention has recently been brought to hydrogen once again, but this time recognizing this sector’s ability to bolster the long-term objectives of the European Union, and strengthening the essential role it can play achieving climate neutrality within a EU’s strategic autonomy.
This recognition by the public sphere holds great opportunities in the coming future for hydrogen as it can benefit from various financial support instruments. For instance, hydrogen has been explicitly mentioned multiple times across the European Commission as a sector that should receive financial support, and that has been recently endorsed thanks to the Recovery Plan for the EU.
The recent launched Recovery Plan for overcoming the economic crisis comprises the Next Generation EU fund and the revised EU budgets, and within it includes two instruments with a total budget of €1.8 trillion for the period of 2021-2027. This Recovery plan will also benefit the Member States with ambitious plans for a sustainable hydrogen development. Moreover, the Commission also published the European Hydrogen Strategy and presented the Clean Hydrogen Alliance which expects a cumulative investment on green hydrogen from €180 to €470 billion by 2050.
The development of the hydrogen industry is especially interesting for Europe as a fast-rising market currently able to compete with China and get ahead of other nations. The European Commission expects Europe to become a world leader, and Member states have also recognized the potential of this growing market showing their support for hydrogen technologies at a national level. Besides, the foreseen public and private alliances, and the business relations with other regions —especially Latin America and North Africa— are considered to play a significant role in this matter holding part of the potential to bring this sector to a mature market stage globally.
Several support mechanisms recently launched or on development are presenting interesting opportunities that can sustain the investments needed for hydrogen projects in the medium and long term. Some of them are the 100MW Electrolyser Call and the Green Ports Call for proposals under Horizon Europe, the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs), and the Innovation Fund that has launched its call for proposals the last 3rd of July with a €1 billion budget per year.
Understanding the great importance of this financial opportunities, and due to our previous successful experiences with EU funded projects, in Hinicio we have developed two unique services at your disposal: Hi-FUNDING, a specialised service to identify funding and develop a strategy to apply for them, and Hi-GRANT, a proposal and project development support for applying to a specific EU subsidy of your choice. If you want to know more about these services, please get in touch with our experts at servicesuites@hinicio.com.
Authors:
Thomas Winkel and Eugenia Bueno
HINICIO Consultants
