Here is the document (pdf): Second renewable hydrogen auction: European Commission publishes Terms and Conditions (pdf)

The European Commission published the final Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) for its second auction for the production of renewable hydrogen (IF24 Auction), via the Innovation Fund. This auction, which is a key pillar of the European Hydrogen Bank (EHB), provides financial support to producers of hydrogen categorised as Renewable Fuel of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO).

The new criteria include safety of operation and cybersecurity, citing the risk that Europe’s green hydrogen sector could become dependent on a single country outisde the EU for equipment, which would threaten the bloc’s security.

“Having regard to the current and projected global and EU supply and demand trends for electrolysers, including the fact that Chinese production capacity is already more than 50% of global production and the projected hydrogen production in China surpasses by far its domestic 2025 target and foreseeable global demand, it is assessed that there is a significant risk of increased and irreversible dependency of the EU on imports of electrolysers originating in China, which may threaten the EU’s security of supply. Thus special measures are justified in this nascent industry, contributing to the objectives of the Net Zero Industry Act. As a result, projects have to limit the sourcing of electrolyser stacks which include surface treatment, cell unit production and stack assembly from China to not more than 25% (in MWe) to fulfil this criterion,” the document reads.

The auction will open on 3 December 2024 and will award up to €1.2 billion support to renewable hydrogen producers located in the European Economic Area (EEA). Building upon the success of last year’s pilot auction (IF23 Auction), the second auction will further contribute to the creation of a European market for renewable hydrogen by de-risking investments with public support.