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EC President announces €2.2B hydrogen bank auction for Spring 2024, €2B investment to build up Brazil’s hydrogen value chain

At the European Hydrogen Week event in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the €2.2-billion second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank, as well as the signing of a major investment agreement with the Brazilian state of Piaui.

The announcement came three days before the official launch of the €800-million Hydrogen Bank pilot auction. With the pilot auction and the Spring 2024 auction combined, total value will reach €3 billion.

The European Hydrogen Bank is a financing instrument run internally by Commission services. It is not designed to be a physical institution. The main objective of the facility is to unlock private investments in hydrogen value chains, both domestically and in third countries, by connecting renewable energy supply to EU demand and addressing the initial investment challenges. It will establish an initial market for renewable hydrogen, offering new growth opportunities and jobs.

President von der Leyden also said that the EX is working on the international leg of the European Hydrogen Bank, seeking to secure diversified imports of renewable hydrogen from reliable suppliers abroad.

That latter focus led to the investment in Brazil. It forms part of a €2-billion package to build up Brazil’s hydrogen value chain. The project will ship clean hydrogen and ammonia to Croatia, from where it will be distributed among southeastern European offtakers.

The bank, by providing support for some of Europe’s first large hydrogen projects, will serve to attract private capital and ensure the creation of a proper commercial offtake market.

Later in her speech, President von der Leyen also promised to evaluate national hydrogen strategies and their implementation to ensure they can collectively meet the EU targets.

The EU estimates that investments of €471 billion will be needed to meet the 10 million tonne renewable hydrogen target, including production, transport, storage and consumption.

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