Subsidy scheme for carbon-neutral hydrogen production with record subsidy

With a subsidy budget of €34.5 million, a consortium of over 50 organizations is working on a single project proposal for carbon-neutral hydrogen production. The call focuses on industry’s need for the green hydrogen economy and the participants are for the most part also from industry. It shows that industry is fully committed to green hydrogen

The goal of the call is to reduce the (system) cost of water electrolysis by 2030 and rapidly increase electrolyser production. In addition, there are relevant, potentially disruptive, transition technologies that prepare the chemical industry for the use of green hydrogen.

The call is industrially oriented. Therefore, it offers R&D support up to a high TRL level: from 2 to 6. With this we want to pave the way towards accelerated large-scale carbon-neutral hydrogen production. For example, innovations must comply with (future) EU directives around circularity and have no application of PFAS.

Several topics deserve further exploration and may have a place within the project plan. Consider developing the Dutch supply chain for materials, components and systems for AWE and PEM electrolysers and fuel cell stacks. But also the development, analysis and testing of innovations for AWE and PEM electrolysis technologies or AEM and SOEC electrolysis technology, or R&D into transition technologies for CO2-neutral hydrogen production from industrial residual gases.

By the end of 2023, 50 organizations had registered for the call, including 32 companies. This shows that the industry has confidence in a green hydrogen economy, for which the Netherlands has promising prospects thanks to the growing capacity of offshore wind, the direct connection for this to the North Sea and the expertise available.

There is no competition between different applications, this is the uniqueness of this call. All participating parties work together on one project plan. Beforehand, they participate in 2 workshops of 2.5 days each to form a consortium and develop a project plan. The first workshop took place from Jan. 9 to 11 where the outlines of the project plan were determined. The parties are now busy taking up their assigned tasks.

In the workshop from February 5 to 7, the consortium parties will further fine-tune the content of the project plan and the division of tasks. Due to the call’s focus on industrial need, there is an obligation for participating companies to finance at least 30% of the project costs: at €34.5 million in funding, this would be a private investment of at least about €15 million. The deadline for submission of the full project plan is April 25, 2024.

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GroenvermogenNL: accelerated use of green hydrogen

GroenvermogenNL is a program of the National Growth Fund. It aims to stimulate and accelerate the use of green hydrogen in Dutch industry by focusing on R&D, pilot projects, demonstrations and Human Capital Agenda. A total budget of €838 million has been set aside for this purpose through 2030