By Tural heybatov
The European Commission has selected 15 projects focused on the production of renewable hydrogen in five countries within the European Economic Area. These initiatives will receive up to €992 million in public funding through the EU’s Innovation Fund.
According to ESG News, the funding has been awarded to hydrogen projects aimed at producing 2.2 million tons of renewable hydrogen and reducing CO₂ emissions by more than 15 million tons over the next 10 years.
The selected projects span strategic sectors such as transport, chemicals, and the production of methanol and ammonia. The support, granted under the second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank (EHB), is designed to bridge the cost gap between renewable hydrogen and fossil fuels—such as coal, oil, and natural gas—in high-emission industries.
The winners will receive subsidies for green hydrogen production, helping close the gap between production costs and market prices, and accelerating the adoption of clean fuels, reports EcoPolitica. Renewable hydrogen is expected to replace natural gas, coal, and oil in hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors and in transport. Of the selected projects, 12 are set to produce green hydrogen with fixed additional support ranging from €0.20 to €0.60 per kilogram, while the remaining three require support between €0.45 and €1.88 per kilogram.
Source: solarquarter
In parallel, Spain, Lithuania, and Austria are allocating up to €836 million in national funding to projects within their own countries, using the EU’s “Auctions-as-a-Service” mechanism.
It’s worth noting that in December of last year, the European Commission approved a €3 billion hydrogen support scheme, under which many of the producers are expected to be located outside the EU. As reported by EcoPolitica, the European Commission gave the green light to a German-Dutch state aid program supporting the production of Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO).
Hydrogen produced under this scheme will be sold within the EU, contributing to the reduction of Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerating the continent’s green energy transition. The program was initially developed and approved three years ago and involves the construction of at least 1.875 GW of global electrolysis capacity. Beneficiaries must demonstrate compliance with EU requirements for RFNBO production as outlined in the delegated acts on renewable hydrogen.
The scheme supports the EU’s broader ambition to scale up renewable hydrogen deployment from 2030 onward. The European Hydrogen Strategy, adopted in 2020, set a target to produce 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen domestically and import another 10 million tons by 2030. These goals are central to the EU’s REPowerEU plan, which aims to phase out fossil fuels and accelerate the shift to climate-neutral energy sources.
In 2024, Brussels actively supported the development of the European Hydrogen Bank, established in March 2023 to attract investment into green hydrogen production. An additional €200 million was allocated last year to create “hydrogen valleys”—regional ecosystems that integrate hydrogen production, transportation, and usage within specific areas, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports.
Supporters of the green transition increasingly point to renewable hydrogen as a cornerstone of global decarbonization efforts. Experts emphasize hydrogen’s unique potential as a storage medium for renewable energy and as a clean energy carrier over long distances—allowing surplus energy from resource-rich regions to be transported to energy-intensive areas located thousands of kilometers away.
The European Commission has not disclosed which specific countries will host the funded projects. However, several energy-rich nations—Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan—have already announced plans to become major exporters of green hydrogen.
Source: climateinsider
It is also important to note that green hydrogen, produced using electricity from renewable sources, is already being produced in some EU countries and remains highly sought after across Europe. However, in countries with abundant energy resources, production costs are significantly lower. For example, countries with large gas reserves can produce low-carbon blue hydrogen from methane without having to build entirely new infrastructure—resulting in cheaper end products.
According to a study by Azerbaijan’s Renewable Energy Agency under the Ministry of Energy, the production costs of both blue and green hydrogen in Azerbaijan are expected to be lower than in Europe, provided gas prices remain relatively low.
Interestingly, hydrogen is not limited to one color. As explained by Chinese outlet DS New Energy, hydrogen can be classified as gray, blue, green—and sometimes even pink, yellow, or turquoise—depending on the production method. However, only green hydrogen is produced through a process that is entirely climate-neutral, making it essential to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Green hydrogen is obtained by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. Gray hydrogen, on the other hand, is typically produced from methane (CH₄), which is broken down by steam into CO₂—the main contributor to climate change—and H₂ (hydrogen). Increasingly, gray hydrogen is also made from coal, and the emissions from this process are so high that it’s often referred to as brown or black hydrogen. Blue hydrogen follows the same process as gray hydrogen, but it involves capturing and storing the resulting CO₂ through carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.
Combating climate change is undoubtedly an expensive and complex undertaking—both financially and logistically. Deploying clean technologies such as renewable hydrogen at scale requires significant public and private investment, coordinated policymaking, and the development of new infrastructure. From constructing electrolysis plants and upgrading energy networks to implementing cross-border regulatory frameworks, the cost of the green transition is substantial.
However, these expenses are increasingly seen not as a burden, but as necessary investments in a sustainable and resilient future. Policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders argue that the long-term payoffs—enhanced energy security, reduced exposure to fossil fuel volatility, new high-skilled job creation, and environmental preservation—will far outweigh the short-term costs. As the European Union strives to lead the global green energy transition, the success of its renewable hydrogen strategy will serve as a crucial benchmark. The real question is not whether the green transition is costly, but whether the world can afford the consequences of inaction.
News.Az
