The European Hydrogen Bank’s fourth auction (IF26) will take place by the end of this year, with a total budget of 500 million euros – less than half the 1.3 billion allocated for the third auction, to be phased out in December 2025.
After the rumours from recent weeks, the European Commission has officially provided information regarding the forthcoming procedure through the publication of the document ‘Draft Terms and Conditions’.
There will be just two topics: No. 1, with a budget of 350 million, intended to support the production of RFNBO hydrogen; No. 2, with a budget of 150 million, dedicated to supporting the production of RFNBO hydrogen and/or low-carbon electrolytic hydrogen.
There are no restrictions regarding H₂ off-takers.
As regards the maximum benefit that can be obtained (this still refers to a ten-year support scheme, which provides a grant for every kilogram of hydrogen produced), the limit is set at 175 million euros per project under Topic 1 and 150 million euros per project under Topic 2 (in this case, the total available budget). Projects must have a minimum capacity (for new installations) of 5 MW of electrolysis, physically concentrated in a single location.
Once again, individual EU Member States will be able to hold national auctions using the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ tool provided by the Commission: in such cases, they must notify Brussels of their intention to do so by September and confirm the allocation of funds by November 2026.
