Building on the encouraging results from the first round of the Hydrogen Mechanism in April, the Commission plans to organise the next round later this year focusing on the development of energy infrastructure.

The upcoming infrastructure round will help transmission system operators (TSOs), hydrogen network operators (HNOs) and other relevant organisations assess market interest in planned hydrogen infrastructure projects, such as pipelines and storage.

The Hydrogen Mechanism offers a standardised process for testing market interest through a non-binding round, consisting of 3 main steps:

• The Commission and interested TSOs/HNOs will agree on the parameters of the infrastructures to be tested.
• The Commission will launch the round by inviting registered market participants to express interest and will collect the related data.
• Following closure of the round, infrastructure developers will receive full access to the collected data.