Spain allocated €274.2 million to four renewable hydrogen projects totaling 102.27 MW of electrolysis capacity , which will be primarily used to decarbonize industrial consumption.
The ATLAS, QUIXOTGEN, P-HYNET, and ZARAGOZAH2V initiatives will be developed in A Coruña, Albacete, Ciudad Real, and Zaragoza, respectively. All have received final approval from the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE).
The four projects had been shortlisted in the third general auction of the European Hydrogen Bank, but were excluded from the distribution of EU funds after the available budget was exhausted. The Spanish government decided to revive these initiatives through the second national call for proposals under the Auctions as a Service (AaaS) mechanism.
The call has a maximum budget of €440.5 million , financed with NextGenerationEU funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The selection respected the scoring order previously established by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), so Spain used the European ranking without needing to start a new competitive process from scratch.
Unlike other support programs focused exclusively on covering part of the CAPEX, these subsidies will be linked to the actual production of hydrogen.
Beneficiaries will receive incentives for each volume produced and certified as renewable non-biological fuel (RNBF) , in accordance with European regulations.
The support can be maintained for a maximum of ten years from the start of the operation , which offers developers greater predictability on revenue and seeks to reduce the cost difference compared to conventional hydrogen.
Projects must also comply throughout all phases with the European principle of not causing significant harm to the environment (DNSH).
The mechanism seeks to solve one of the main problems currently facing renewable hydrogen: even when there are technically advanced projects, the difference between the cost of production and the price that the market is willing to pay can delay final investment decisions.
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Production aid aims to reduce precisely that gap and offer a long-term signal that facilitates supply, financing and construction contracts.
The four initiatives will also have an industrial focus. The goal is to replace fossil fuel consumption in activities located in Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, and Aragón with hydrogen generated using renewable electricity.
Spain revives projects that Brussels put on hold
The second AaaS call allows competitive projects at European scale to receive national support when the community budget is insufficient to cover all selected proposals.
Spain already used this mechanism in a first round. In that call, the beneficiaries were Orange-Bat, in Castellón; ELYSENeM-Numancia, in Soria; and ACCIONA PLUG Valle H2V Navarra, in Sangüesa.
These three projects collectively received €220.02 million in incentives after being transferred from the European Hydrogen Bank's general mechanism.
With the new award, the Government expands the group of projects supported by this scheme and adds another 102.27 MW of electrolysis.
The mechanism is part of a broader strategy to support renewable hydrogen that includes H2 Pioneers, H2 Value Chain, H2 Valleys and different waves of Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI).
According to MITECO, IDAE has already channeled nearly €3 billion of Recovery Plan funds towards green hydrogen-related initiatives.
The challenge now will be to convert that volume of aid into operational electrolyzers and real demand. The availability of public funding reduces some of the risk, but the projects still need competitive renewable electricity, buyers, infrastructure, and contracts to sustain their operation over long periods.
The four selected projects have an advantage: they have already passed the competitive evaluation of the European Hydrogen Bank and have the definitive backing of IDAE.