EU allocates around €115 million to build 43 new hydrogen refueling stations

The European Commission agency has earmarked around €115 million ($123 million) in grants to launch 43 new hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) in seven EU countries, part of a total zero-emissions grant of more than €424 million in liquidity .

Poland will be the largest recipient of aid, providing €77.2 million in funding to two developers to build a total of 21 new hydrogen refueling stations, a significant amount for a country with no completed and operating hydrogen refueling stations. This is a major initiative, although there are currently 13 hydrogen refueling stations under development.

Grants were also awarded for 8 new HRS in France, 5 in Spain, 4 in Finland, 3 in Denmark, and 1 each in Greece and Slovenia.

The funding was awarded by the European Commission’s Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (Cinea) and comes from the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) of the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a financing scheme supporting transport infrastructure in Europe.

Meanwhile, Cinea has earmarked an additional €309 million to build around 4,200 charging points, while part of the H2 funding will be used to build electrolysers to supply fuel.

“Since 2021, the EU has allocated more than €1.3 billion to projects through AFIF, deploying 26,396 charging stations, 202 hydrogen refueling stations and electrifying ground operations at 63 airports,” EU Transport Commissioner Adina Adina Vălean said.

“The last [call for proposals, which closed in November] was the most successful to date in terms of the number and quality of projects, demonstrating the growing interest in hydrogen and charging infrastructure.”

Paloma Aba Garrote, Director of Cinea, added: “With this new option, the EU is showing that the transition to zero-emission transport through alternative fuels is not a dream of the future, but something that is happening across the EU Things that happened."

Cinea said that the number of hydrogen refueling stations funded in this round is 48, but the project list it provided only shows 43.

New AFIF applications are now open, with initial submission deadline September 24, 2024.

The EU's Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation requires member states to ensure that one H2 refueling station is built in the EU's 424 major urban areas and every 200 kilometers along Europe's core road network by 2030.