Who are the winners of €720m of European Hydrogen Bank funding — and who will buy their subsidised H2?

So who are the winners of the subsidies and who are their offtakers?

1) Project Catalina, Spain (500MW)

The joint-largest project to be awarded subsidies is the first 500MW phase of the Catalina green hydrogen and ammonia facility, located near the town of Andorra — not be confused with the nearby microstate of the same name — in northeastern Spain.

As well as 504MW of dedicated onshore wind power and 571MW of solar, Catalina also comprises a 300-tonne hydrogen storage facility and a 221km H₂ pipeline to a Fertiberia fertiliser plans in the port of Sagunto.

Most of the plant’s ammonia output is earmarked for fertiliser production at a new facility owned by consortium partner Fertiberia in the port of Sagunto. Hydrogen produced at Catalina will also be injected into the local gas grid.

The partners have previously said they will begin construction of the 500MW phase by the end of next year, with entry into operation by December 2027.

This, combined with the project’s relatively large scale, is likely why Catalina was able to undercut other projects in the European Hydrogen Bank’s subsidy auctions, eventually walking away with a ten-year production contract for €0.48/kg.

CIP and its co-developers want to eventually scale the plant up to 2GW of electrolysis capacity, although no timeframe has yet been given for this.

2) MP2X, Portugal (500MW)

The first €1bn, 500MW phase of the MP2X green hydrogen and ammonia project — named after its development consortium MadoquaPower2X — will produce approximately 50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, to be injected into the local gas grid, as well as 300,000 tonnes of green ammonia for use in maritime transport and fertiliser production.

Power for the project will come from approximately 1.1GW of dedicated wind and solar capacity procured from a nearby “renewables community”.

Phase 2 would see the project enlarged to 1.2GW of electrolyser capacity, producing 150,000 tonnes of green hydrogen and over one million tonnes of renewable ammonia a year.

The partners — now in line for a subsidy of €0.48/kg totalling €245m over ten years — originally intended to have the project built in 2025 but this timeline now looks unlikely.

“The grants are bringing [MP2X and Catalina] closer to Financial Investment Decision [sic] by reducing the gap between cost price and sales price and are important enablers for the success of the projects,” said CIP yesterday. “The grant is dependent on the two projects being operational within five years of signing the grant agreement. CIP expects the two projects to be operational no later than 2029.”

3) Grey2Green II, Portugal (200MW)

Few details are available about this 200MW project, which has been granted €0.39 for each kg of hydrogen produced. Developer Petrogal is the refining subsidiary of Portuguese energy giant Galp, and also has responsibility for its hydrogen business.

Like other EU industrial hydrogen consumers, Galp is expected to source at least 42% of its H₂ for refining from renewable sources by 2030, but the 100MW project is only expected to displace 20% of its grey H₂ demand.

Galp has not responded to questions from Hydrogen Insight on the matter.

4) SkiGA, Norway (117MW)

The Skipavika Green Ammonia (SkiGA) project is being developed by little-known Norwegian developer Fuella, which was formed in 2020. The project’s website indicates that the scheme will entail a 130MW electrolyser making 100,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year, however the winning bid — of €0.48/kg of green H₂ — is only for 117MW of electrolyser capacity.

SkiGA is located in Mongstad, a major oil & gas production hub near Bergen, Norway, and aims to supply green ammonia to replace fossil-based NH₃.

Last year, German utility EnBW became a 10% minority stakeholder in Fuella, as part of a deal to exclusively offtake ammonia volumes from SkiGA.

Electricity for the project will be provided by wind and hydropower.

With a capex cost of NKr4bn ($361m), construction on SkiGA is expected to begin this year, entering into operation in 2026.

Fuella, which is also developing a second 260MW green hydrogen and ammonia project in Norway, is backed by €20m of funding from German institutional investor Allianz Partners, a minority stakeholder in the company.

5) E-NRG Lahti, Finland (90MW)

Finnish developer Nordic Ren-Gas, founded in 2021, plans to build a 90MW green hydrogen electrolyser at a new integrated hydrogen, synthetic methane and district heating plant in Lahti, southern Finland, and was successful in the EHB with the lowest bid of all — €0.37/kg, amounting to a €45m subsidy over ten years.

The estimated 12,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen production from the plant, being developed in conjunction with Finnish utility Lahti Energia, will be used in heavy transport and in e-methane production.

While Lahti Energia is likely to use the renewable heat generated by the project, it is not clear if the utility will be making use of the e-methane or H₂ fuel, and no other offtakers from the projects have been publicly identified.

Environmental assessment is ongoing, with first hydrogen production expected in 2027.

Nordic Ren-Gas has six e-methane plants in development, with the first, in Tampere, Finland, due to start construction this year.

In March, the company agreed a €230m framework loan agreement with the EU’s lending arm, the European Investment Bank, to help support the development of its 550MW portfolio, which would generate 150,000 tonnes of e-methane a year, as well as 2TWh of renewable heat for local utilities.

6) El Alamillo H2, Spain (60MW)

There are few details available about Benbros Energy’s hydrogen plans, let alone its 60MW El Alamillo project, which scooped €0.38/kg in subsidies to produce around 65,000 tonnes of green H₂ per year.

Benbros, a holding company for joint ventures run by Spanish solar magnates and brothers Rafael and Jose Benjumea, says on its website only that it is developing green hydrogen projects using solar PV.

No offtakers have been named, and it is not even clear how the renewable H₂ produced by the project will be used.

In 2021, the company formed a joint venture with Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) to develop 14 solar projects with a capacity of 3.5GW throughout central and southern Spain. It has also invested in a plan to build a synthetic diamond factory in Trujillo, central Spain.

7) Hysencia, Spain (35MW)

Project developer Angus — which appears to be a pseudonym for Spanish hydrogen company DH2 Energy — is set to receive €0.39/kg for the 35MW Hysencia project in Spain, producing around 17,000 tonnes over ten years.

Hysencia, located in Aragon, northeast Spain, envisages using 49MW of solar capacity to power the 35MW electrolyser, with construction mooted to begin this year.

The project has Fertiberia signed up as an offtaker, alongside steel producer ArcelorMittal.

The Luxembourg-based steel giant has a €460m grant from the Spanish government to replace two coal-fired blast furnaces with a direct-reduced iron unit (as well as an electric arc furnace) at its Gijón plant in northern Spain (more than 500km from Aragon), for which it could use green hydrogen to reduce emissions from steel production.

DH2 Energy is the hydrogen division of a company run by solar developers Olivier Crambade and Philippe Esposito, who in 2021 sold the Spanish and French units of their solar business Dhamma Energy to a subsidiary of Italian oil & gas firm Eni.

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