European Commission approves €1.4bn in funding for hydrogen transportation

The European Commission has approved the fourth Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) designed to support the development of 13 projects in seven countries.

In its latest round, Hy2Move will be provided with up to €1.4bn ($1.52bn) in public funding from the participating Member States, which include France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, the Netherlands and Slovakia. H2 View understands this could leverage another €3.3bn in additional private funding.

The initiative will involve 13 projects being developed by 11 different companies, including Air Products, Airbus, BMW, Evolution synergetique, Hydrogen de France, Tomark, Michelin, UFI, Neumann & Essar, Skeleton and Gen-Hy Cube.

With over 200 partners, Hy2Move will build on previous hydrogen projects designed to implement hydrogen technology into the mobility and transportation sector. These include Hy2Tech, Hy2Use and Hy2Infra – with the latter providing the infrastructure required.

Each project being deployed by the selected companies will cover the “four work streams” of mobility and transport applications. This includes the integration of hydrogen technology in applications; the development of fuel cells; onboard hydrogen storage solutions; and the production and refuelling of hydrogen.

The overall completion of the IPCEI is expected by 2031.

Speaking on the announcement, the European Commission Executive Vice-President, Margrethe Vestager said, “Hy2Move will help achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal. It contributes to achieving the 2050 target of 90% reduction of emissions from the mobility and transport sectors.

“As for all IPCEIs, we have ensured that taxpayers’ money only supports truly innovative projects that would not otherwise happen. Also, we checked that all individual projects aim for breakthrough innovation going beyond state-of-the-art.”

Vestager added, “Also, Member States have put in place what we call ‘claw-back mechanism’ for projects receiving large amounts of aid. If the project generates more net revenues than expected – and that is of course great news – then the Member State will also get a share of the success.”