La Moncloa. 02/12/2025. Sara Aagesen announces €465 million for Spanish projects in upcoming European hydrogen and industrial heat auctions [News]

TheThird Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, closes the II Annual Event of the Q-Zero Alliance, at the Higher School of Industrial Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Madrid

TheThird Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge has announced Spain’s renewed participation in the European Auction-as-a-Service (AaaS) mechanism of the Innovation Fund, activated by the European Hydrogen Bank to facilitate the deployment of this strategic vector across the EU and in participating countries. The Spanish contribution this time will be €415 million to finance new national projects for the production and use of renewable hydrogen. In addition, Spain is also joining the AaaS scheme within the first European industrial heat auction, with a voluntary contribution of €50 million that will finance initiatives to decarbonise thermal processes in industry.

“I want to take this opportunity to announce the contribution of 415 million to strengthen the third auction of the Hydrogen Bank. With this contribution, we have reached €3.155 billion to make hydrogen a reality. Ten years ago, talking about hydrogen seemed like talking about something in a laboratory or something still in R&D. And now, however, we are seeing real projects reaching all parts of the country and providing a necessary response to achieve decarbonisation in our nation”, she stated during the closing of the Q-Zero Alliance meeting.

With Spain’s participation in the Renewable H2 AaaS, the goal is to secure 100% of the funds allocated to the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) for promoting this energy source within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RRTP). This will be Spain’s second contribution, following its participation in 2024 with a budget of €376.9 million.

In the case of the industrial heat auction, the first of its kind launched by the European Commission, Spain’s involvement aims to support projects for the electrification of industrial heat (heat pumps, resistive heating, plasma heating, etc.), direct renewable heat (solar thermal or geothermal solutions), or hybrid systems combining electrification and renewable heat. These are different types of projects that are already being promoted through funding programmes within the PERTE ERHA and the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation.

Funding Allocation

Spain’s new contribution to the European Hydrogen Bank’s AaaS programme will be distributed across two of the three baskets or topics outlined in the Terms and Conditions of the European Hydrogen Bank’s third auction. €278.6 million will be allocated to Topic #1 (renewable hydrogen production from non-biological sources, RFNBO) and €136.4 million to Topic #3 (supporting RFNBO hydrogen production limited to projects supplying the maritime and aviation sectors with RFNBO).

Regarding the maximum support per project submitted, the limit will be the national budget available for each topic. If the budget for one of the two topics is not fully allocated, a national budget transfer between the two topics is planned.

Within the industrial heat auction, €30 million will be allocated to the low-temperature (100-400 ºC) and low-power (3-5 MWt) Topic category, and €20 million to the low-temperature (100-400 ºC) and medium-power (> 5 MWt) Topic category.

Tighter deadlines

From the date specified in the call for proposals, any project on the waiting list that is a potential beneficiary of the Spanish AaaS programme must submit both the documentation required in the call for proposals and the performance guarantee.

The deadlines at the national level for submitting these guarantees and, in general, for the processing of applications, will be shorter than those established for the first call for proposals under the AaaS mechanism. This is because the final award decisions must be published before 31 August 2026, as these are grants financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism through the PRTR.

Funded by the Innovation Fund and with national contributions, the European Hydrogen Bank is another instrument designed by the European Commission to lead the global race for green hydrogen and gain a competitive advantage in the process of decarbonising economic activity.

The AaaS scheme allows member states to use these European auctions as a project selection mechanism. Once the EU-level auction is resolved, countries that contribute additional funds, such as Spain, can reinstate pre-selected national projects that were left without funding when the funds allocated by Brussels were exhausted, and allocate them with money from the voluntary contribution to the common fund. With this instrument, member states can identify and support competitive projects within their territory that have not received EU funding, without needing to hold their own national auctions.

Deployment of green hydrogen in Spain

This approach expands the possibilities for Spanish companies to obtain financing for new developments in the production and use of renewable hydrogen and strengthens the position of the national industry, which is already highly competitive in this sector.

Joining the European Hydrogen Bank’s auction system complements the full range of support instruments enabled by the Government through the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge to make green hydrogen a key driver of our energy policy. More than 3.1 billion from the PRTR, including this new contribution, has already been allocated to the development of this energy vector and its associated value chain.

Non official translation