The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a third Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) - IPCEI Hy2Infra - to support hydrogen supply projects in seven Member States, namely France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Slovakia. They will provide up to €6.9bn in public funding, which should unlock €5.4bn in private investments, with 32 European companies taking part in 33 projects.
The IPCEI Hy2Infra will support the development of 3.2 GW of large-scale electrolysers in Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, and Poland, the deployment of 2,700 km of new and repurposed hydrogen transmission and distribution pipelines in Germany, Slovakia and Italy, the development of three large-scale hydrogen storage facilities in Germany (capacity of at least 370 GWh) and the construction of two terminals and port infrastructure in Germany and the Netherlands for liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) to handle 6 kt/year of hydrogen.
Large-scale electrolysers should be operational between 2026 and 2028 and pipelines between 2027 and 2029, with all projects operational in 2029.