The Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate has opened a consultation for a suite of incentives for climate technology manufacturers, including a subsidy worth up to €50m ($54m) per company investing in electrolyser factories.

The incentive would cover 15% of eligible costs for sites producing electrolysers or important components for green hydrogen projects such as electrodes, membranes, compressors, small-scale storage tanks, heat exchangers, H2 detectors and purification systems.

However, the scale of support rises to 20% if the factory is based in one of the areas that the EU has approved for regional aid.

The Dutch government also proposes to increase the subsidy by 20 percentage points if the manufacturer is a small company (a maximum 50 employees and a turnover or balance sheet of up to €10m), and 10 percentage points if it is a medium-sized enterprise (a maximum 250 employees, turnover of up to €50m and a balance sheet total of up to €43m).

So a small company would get 25% of eligible costs, and a medium-sized one 30%.

However, the proposal caps the incentive to €50m per company seeking to build a factory for electrolysers or hydrogen components.

The consultation is due to close on 3 March 2024, with a target date for the electrolyser and hydrogen equipment subsidies to open for applications in the second quarter of this year.