Brussels, 15th February 2024

Hydrogen Europe welcomes the European Commission’s decision to greenlight the third “wave” of Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) – the first IPCEI call exclusively focused on hydrogen infrastructure (Hy2Infra).

Through this IPCEI, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Slovakia are set to inject up to €6.9 billion of public funding from various national sources. This investment is expected to attract at least €5.4 billion in private capital, resulting in a total deployment fund of €12.3 billion.

32 major companies, with the support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), will focus their efforts on 33 projects distributed between the following segments:

• Deployment of Electrolysers: adding another 3.2GW of renewable hydrogen production, to become operational between 2027 and 2029.
• Expansion of Hydrogen Transmission and Distribution Pipelines: approximately 2700km of new and repurposed pipelines.
• Hydrogen Storage Facilities: targeting capacities of at least 370 GWh.
• Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC): Enabling the handling of 6,000 tons of hydrogen annually.

“This third IPCEI announcement, and its focus on building up Europe’s hydrogen infrastructure, is an essential part of the jigsaw, as these projects will help to ramp up and connect hydrogen supply and demand across the EU. This is a major step on our way to building a fully fledged, Europe-wide hydrogen infrastructure network, though there is still a long way to go. We thank Europe’s institutions for their work so far and urge them to keep the momentum going,” said Stephen Jackson, Deputy CEO and Chief Technology & Market Officer at Hydrogen Europe.

The Hy2Infra IPCEI is the third of a series of hydrogen IPCEIs that have been published: Hy2Tech, concentrating on hydrogen technologies and notified on July 15, 2022, followed by Hy2Use IPCEI, focusing on hydrogen applications, on September 21, 2023.

So far, all together they are set to raise over €38 billion from a blend of public and private funds, supporting more than 109 projects involving 80+ European companies. Many of these companies are Hydrogen Europe members.

Hydrogen Europe commends the companies, Member States, and the European Commission for their commitment, collaboration, and efforts, and furthermore emphasises the need for the swift implementation of these projects, and not to lose momentum as we ramp up the hydrogen industry to help combat climate change.

Now, all eyes are now on the subsequent fourth wave of the Hydrogen IPCEI, with a focus on mobility applications. We call on the Commission to approve this wave as soon as possible, and in alignment with the ambitions of the recently adopted Fit-for-55 and other hydrogen-related legislation.

For more information:

Commission Press Release on H2 Infra

Commission Press Release on Hy2Tech

Commission Press Release on Hy2Use

Hydrogen Europe Press Release on Hy2Tech

Hydrogen Europe Press Release on Hy2Use