EU allocates EUR 4.8bn among 85 innovative net-zero projects

The European Commission (EC) said today that it has selected 85 innovative net-zero projects across 18 countries to receive a combined EUR 4.8 billion (USD 5.19bn) in grants from the Innovation Fund under the 2023 call for proposals, the largest since the start of the funding programme about four years ago.

The selected projects cover a wide range of sectors from various categories, including energy-intensive industries, renewable energy, energy storage, industrial carbon management, net-zero mobility (including maritime and aviation) and buildings. They are scheduled to be completed before 2030 and over their first ten years of operation are expected to reduce emissions by about 476 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Do you know we have a daily hydrogen newsletter? Subscribe here for free!

In the cleantech manufacturing category, for instance, the grant-winning initiatives include manufacturing plants for key components in wind and solar energy and for heat pumps, as well as components for electrolysers, fuel cells, energy storage technologies and the batteries value chain. These projects will contribute to 3 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing capacity and 9.3 GW of electrolyser manufacturing capacity in the EU.

One of the grant winners is Norway’s Nel ASA, which has been awarded up to EUR 135 million for the industrialisation of its next-generation pressurised alkaline technology.

The winners in the renewable hydrogen category, in turn, are expected to contribute to the EU market with 61 kilotonnes of renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) annually, helping boost the use and production of renewable energy in hydrogen in hard-to-abate applications in industry and transport.

Successful applicants are due to sign their grant agreements with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) in the first quarter of 2025.

The Innovation Fund has so far allocated EUR 12 billion in support. The Commission is set to launch the next call for proposals in early December 2024.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.082)