The EU’s first ever bloc-wide green hydrogen subsidy auction — with a total budget of €800m ($856m) — had attracted a total of 132 bids before it closed last week, the European Commission has confirmed.

Bidding on the €800m pilot of the so-called European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) for domestic producers concluded on 8 February, with the winners of expected to be announced in early April and the first grant contracts signed within nine months.

This means that green hydrogen developers who have successfully bid for EHB subsidies could potentially begin to sign off financing and reach final investment decisions (FID) on their projects as soon as early November.

And the participation of companies willing to submit 132 different bids suggests that interest in the programme is sufficient to spark significant first-mover development in the bloc, and crucially, provide a basis for further subsidy auctions.