Portugal among the top winners
The European Commission revealed on April 30 that the first auction of the European H2 bank has selected seven projects that will be supported with around €720 million. Among the seven projects chosen (out of a total of 132 bidders from 17 different countries), two are Portuguese: one from Galp and the other from Madoquapower2X.
Galp's project aims to convert the consumption of gray H2 at its Sines refinery into green H2, and the Portuguese company has secured EU support of €84.2 million (which will be channeled into its project over 10 years). Galp applied for support of €0.39 per kilogram of green H2 (estimating total production at 216,000 tons).
Madoquapower2X's project, called MP2X, applied for €0.48 per kilogram (for a total production of green H2 of 511,000 tons). This project will absorb the largest amount of support in this first auction promoted by the European Commission, guaranteeing more than €245 million.
Of the projects chosen, the rest are distributed among the following countries:
- 3 projects in Spain: Catalina, El Alamillo H2 and HYSENCIA with support of 230 M€, 24.6 M€ and 8.1 M€ respectively;
- 1 project in Finland: eNRG Lahti, with support of 45.2 M€;
- 1 project in Norway: SKIGA with 81.3 M€ in support.
Together, the seven winners aim to produce 1.58 million tons of green H2 over a decade, avoiding carbon dioxide emissions of 10 million tons, according to the European Commission.
The support is intended to help the promoters compensate for the fact that producing green H2 is even more expensive today than producing conventional H2 (obtained, for example, from natural gas). On the other hand, it has made it possible to find out the cost of production practiced by various countries, which is between €5.8 and €13.5/kg.
Most of the uses indicated for green H2 are methanol, refining, injection into the gas grid, mobility, as well as the production of steel, glass, chemicals and fertilizers.
The selected projects have a maximum of five years to start production.
Brussels also intends to launch a second green H2 auction at the end of this year, for which there is already a first draft.
