The European Commission has gone on to approve a €400 million Spanish state aid scheme in order to support renewable hydrogen production by way of the European Hydrogen Bank’s auction-as-a-service tool.
Within the auction-as-a-service approach, the member states can choose to make use of the EU-wide auction system, which is provided by the Innovation Fund, in order to distribute a specified part of their national funding to renewable hydrogen production projects in their vicinity.
Spain is anticipating building almost 345MW of electrolysis capacity, thereby producing almost 221 thousand tonnes of renewable hydrogen. It is well to be noted that this project is anticipated to avoid around 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
The scheme aims to support Spain’s objectives when it comes to installing 12GW of electrolyzed capacity by the end of the decade, hence contributing to the overall renewable energy directive targets given by the EU.
Apparently, the scheme syncs well with the clean industrial deal as well as the REPowerEU plan, which is aimed at decarbonization of the industries across the EU, decreasing the dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and also advancing the clean energy shift. Spain will be awarded this grant by way of bidding process and that too a competitive one, which apparently happened to conclude in the first quarter of 2025 and got overseen by the European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency – CINEA.
Notably, companies that are planning to have new electrolyzers in Spain can go ahead and apply for support, which, by the way, will be offered as part of a direct grant every kilogram of the renewable hydrogen that gets produced. The aid, as a matter of fact, is going to last for a maximum of 10 years, thereby requiring the beneficiaries to comply with the EU criteria in terms of the renewable fuels of nonbiological origin – RFNBO.
All this happens to involve the contribution to the deployment or even financing of more renewable electricity that is needed for hydrogen production. The European Hydrogen Bank, which is run by the Innovation Fund, looks forward to facilitating EU domestic production as well as imports when it comes to renewable hydrogen, thereby aiming at 20 million tonnes by the end of this decade. The hydrogen auctions were funded via the EU emissions trading system revenues, with a sole intent to supporting the transition to climate neutrality.
