The call is launched in accordance with the 2024 Financing Decision and will be managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) (‘Agency’).

Auction calls for proposals are economically more efficient for technologies moving from commercial demonstration to scale-up of technologies. The auction call for proposals therefore contributes to the objectives of the revised ETS Directive 2003/876.

The revised ETS Directive enables the use of competitive bidding to award support from Innovation Fund and to cover up to 100% of relevant cost.

The key advantages of using auctions for technologies that are moving towards scaleup and market roll-out are:

• cost-efficient support through using a market-based instrument (auctions)
• technology and project development risks are tackled by the project promoter, who is in best place to address them, through payments based only on delivered volumes of the supported good, i.e. no payments before entry into operation
• price discovery and market formation
• reduced administrative burden.

The present call is an auction call for renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) hydrogen as defined in the Renewable Energy Directive 2023/24137 and its Delegated Acts. The bid price is the requested unit contribution (fixed premium) per kg of RFNBO hydrogen production which will be paid for a maximum period of up to 10 years.

Projects must limit the sourcing of electrolyser stacks with surface treatment or cell unit production or stack assembly carried out in China to no more than 25% (in MWe) of the total electrolyser capacity as expressed in the bid (see section 9).

INNOVFUND-2024-AUC-RFNBOH2-GENERAL – Fixed Premium Auction for RFNBO hydrogen production:
The objective of this topic is to support the production of renewable fuel of nonbiological origin (RFNBO) hydrogen in Europe as defined in the Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2021 and its Delegated Acts, from new, additional installed capacity in support of the 2030 targets for renewable hydrogen established in this Directive and supported by the REPowerEU Plan and reiterated in the Green Deal Industrial Plan and the European Hydrogen Bank Communication. This topic also supports achieving security of supply of essential goods and Europe’s industrial leadership and competitiveness in the hydrogen sector.

The following activities can be funded under this topic:
Installation of new, additional, RFNBO hydrogen production capacity (i.e. hydrogen production capacity for which at the time of the grant application the start of works did not yet take place) as well as the verified and certified production of RFNBO hydrogen from those installations (in kg of produced volume) for a period of up to 10 years.

For avoidance of doubt:

• The bid price per unit is expected to cover the premium required by the producer, i.e. the difference between the expected revenues from the sale of one unit and the unit’s levelized cost. (i.e. elements like production, sale, transport, and storage can be priced into the bid).
• The produced RFNBO hydrogen can be sold to any off-taker or self-consumed or stored. The RFNBO definition applies to hydrogen purchased by any off-taker (not only in transport).

Minimum installed capacity: only projects with a minimum installed capacity of the electrolyser of at least 5 MWe are eligible.

The electrolyser capacity must be in a single location. Virtual pooling of capacity is not permitted.

INNOVFUND-2024-AUC-RFNBOH2- MARITIME – Fixed Premium Auction for RFNBO hydrogen production for the maritime sector

The objective of this topic is to support the production of renewable fuel of nonbiological origin (RFNBO) hydrogen in Europe as defined in the Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2021 and its Delegated Acts, from new, additional installed capacity in support of the 2030 targets for renewable hydrogen established in this Directive and supported by the REPowerEU Plan and reiterated in the Green Deal Industrial Plan and the European Hydrogen Bank Communication. This topic also supports achieving security of supply of essential goods and Europe’s industrial leadership and competitiveness in the hydrogen sector. This topic’s objective is also to provide specific support to the production of RFNBO hydrogen that will be used by stakeholders in the maritime sector.

The following activities can be funded under this topic:
Installation of new, additional, RFNBO hydrogen production capacity (i.e. hydrogen production capacity for which at the time of the grant application the start of works did not yet take place) as well as the verified and certified production of RFNBO hydrogen from those installations (in kg of produced volume) for a period of up to 10 years.

For avoidance of doubt:

• The bid price per unit is expected to cover the premium required by the producer, i.e. the difference between the expected revenues from the sale of one unit and the unit’s levelized cost. (i.e. elements like production, sale, transport, and storage can be priced into the bid).
• Minimum installed capacity: only projects with a minimum installed capacity of the electrolyser of at least 5 MWe are eligible.
• Projects under this topic must supply at least 60% of their expected total volume of production as stated in the bid to off-takers belonging to the maritime sector.
• Projects will have to respect the specific implementation conditions concerning supply to off-takers in the maritime sector, as described in Annex 2. An off-taker will be considered to belong to the maritime sector, if it will use the hydrogen produced by the project or the hydrogen derivative produced by the integrated project for carrying out/making use of bunkering activities in ports within the EU/EEA. Fuel traders and/or intermediaries (including storage facilities), are not eligible as off-takers, neither are virtual agreements. The remainder 40% of their expected total volume of produced RFNBO hydrogen can be sold to any off-taker or self-consumed or stored. The RFNBO definition applies to hydrogen purchased by any off-taker (not only in transport).

The electrolyser capacity must be in a single location. Virtual pooling of capacity is not permitted.