Spain awards €17.8m to green hydrogen technology firms

Green hydrogen technologies have secured €17.8m ($20.3m) from a €162m ($185m) Spanish covid recovery investment package.

Funded through the EU’s Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (RTRP), the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge’s (Miteco) Renoval 2 scheme will distribute the funds across four hydrogen companies.

Madrid-based hydrogen storage and transport specialist Quantum Hydrogen is the largest beneficiary, receiving €9.3m ($10.6m) to expand its manufacturing capabilities.

Nano4Energy, which produces carbon coatings for PEM fuel cells, is the second-largest winner, awarded €3.9m ($4.4m) for the same purpose.

The European subsidiary of US electrolyser maker Electric Hydrogen will receive €2.6m ($3m). The firm has previously hinted that it could invest in EU manufacturing capacity.

PEM fuel cell developer Kinergy Fuel Cell also won €655,000 ($748,000).

Each company must deploy its grant in line with technical, financial, and operational objectives outlined in its approved funding application within two years of approval

Miteco said the scheme, which allocated funds to 40 companies in total, targets compliance with the EU’s Clean Industrial Pact (CIP), a strategy for strengthening the bloc’s competitiveness and accelerating a climate-neutral economy.

Aimed at strengthening Spain’s broader industrial value chain, it follows Miteco awarding €439.4m ($509m) in production subsidies across three green hydrogen projects which missed out on European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) funding, earlier this year.

While the country remains one of Europe’s most ambitious green hydrogen markets, targeting 12GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, it faces familiar issues around offtake demand and infrastructure delays, which beset many European countries.