Programmes to support the innovative renewable hydrogen value chain under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience plan

by SynerHy | Feb 26, 2022 | General topic

H2 Value Chain Summary Sheet P1
H2 Value Chain Summary Sheet P2
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The PERTE ERHA establishes the guidelines on which the different Orders that will regulate calls for public funding for different sectors will be elaborated. Regarding the hydrogen sector itself, the PERTE has already published two orders so far.

On 24th December 2021, MITECO published the Orders approving the regulations for granting funding towards two renewable hydrogen lines in the BOE (Official State Bulletin). Order TED/1444/2021 and Order TED/1445/2021. The Recovery and Resilience Mechanism will finance these funds.

On the 22nd of February it is published the first call resolution of 4 programmes that will contribute to the execution of the activities described in Component 9. This call follows Order TED/1444/2021 and is made on a competitive tendering process as a non-refundable subsidy and is managed specifically by the IDAE.

Maintenance and operational activities must be guaranteed for at least 5 years and up to 50% of the grant activity may be subcontracted with third parties. These funds shall be compatible with other funding granted unless the same cost of the project is being funded. Any beneficiaries may request an advance payment of the amount of the granted funding.

Eligible projects

The activities to be undertaken by the project must be described through a descriptive memorandum, which includes the project plan and mid-term milestones, a strategic plan, an economic plan and an impact plan. The same candidate may submit more than one project for each application.

Programme 1: Skills, technological developments in testing and manufacturing lines.

– EUR 30 million –

Sub-programme 1(a): manufacturing sites for equipment linked to the renewable hydrogen value chain.

– EUR 20 million –

Specifically:

  • Production of renewable hydrogen by electrolysis.
  • Packaging, transportation and distribution of hydrogen in a dedicated way, compressed or otherwise.
  • Hydrogen fuel cells, stationary or heavy mobility ( road, sea/river, rail).
  • Systems and components for direct hydrogen combustion.

Evidence of compliance with the requirements of the call referring to personnel costs and administrative costs, as well as sub-programme 1 a) which is supported by Article 17 of Commission Regulation (EU) Nº 651/2014 of 17 June 2014. Applicants must comply with requirements attached to this article (among others, to be small or medium-sized companies).

Eligible costs

  1. Costs of investment in both tangible and intangible assets. An investment in tangible or intangible assets for new establishment, expansion or acquisition of assets owned by another establishment.
  2. The estimated wage costs related to the employment directly created by the investment project, estimated over a two-year period. It must be set up within three years following implementation of the investment and be maintained for at least three years.

Maximum funding rates

  • 20 % of eligible costs in case of small companies;
  • 10 % of eligible costs in case of mid-sized companies.

Amount of funding

The minimum investment per project is € 1 million and the maximum funding per company and per project is € 7.5 million.

Sub-programme 1(b): improving skills associated with R&D&I: this includes component testing facilities.

– EUR 10 million –

Auxiliary systems and equipment related to the area of renewable hydrogen generation, distribution and use such as sensors, detectors, metrology, regulation, measurement instruments. This also includes facilities related to testing and validation of hydrogen compression, storing and supply systems in hydro generators or refuelling stations, among others. There is no funding for facilities aimed at feeding renewable hydrogen into the gas network.

Eligible costs

  • Costs of staff assigned to the project. The maximum per hour per person is 60 €.
  • Costs of equipment and material.
  • Costs of contractual research, knowledge and patents acquired, as well as consultancy costs and similar services exclusively used for the project.
  • Overhead costs and other additional operating costs, including costs of materials, supplies and similar products.

Maximum funding rates

Amount of funding

The minimum investment per project is €1 million and the maximum funding is €15 million per company per project.

If more than half of the eligible costs of the project is related to experimental development activities, the applicant must provide a report by a certification entity that is recognised by the Spanish National Accreditation Body (“Entidad Nacional de Acreditación (ENAC)”). This report must justify if the project fulfils the experimental development criteria, according to the nature of the project and the activities planned.

Programme 2: design, demonstration and validation of hydrogen powered mobility.

– EUR 80 million –

Projects may target developments concerning different equipment (tanks, fuel cells, etc.) that can be incorporated into vehicles and the demonstration of new innovative hydrogen electric vehicles:

  1. Heavy cargo road vehicles (buses, coaches, trucks, waste collection trucks, semi-trailers); semirremolques);
  2. Sea and river ships (transport of people and/or cargo, commercial ships);
  3. Railway equipment (transport of people and/or cargo, including light rail and cargo trains, handling of locomotives);
  4. Handling equipment (forklift handling, construction or agricultural machines, crawlers, etc.);
  5. Crewed or non-crewed aircraft (UAVs, drones) and auxiliary services at airports (service vehicles, aircraft APUs), amongst others that can be integrated into current vehicles and the demonstration of new innovative hydrogen-powered vehicles in their respective fields, allowing their inclusion within more than one type of vehicle.

Of importance are maintenance, reliability and safety features of the design. Hydrogen supply infrastructures are also eligible if they allow testing prototypes deployed as part of the demonstration.

Eligible costs

  • Costs of staff assigned to the project. The maximum per hour per person is 60 €.
  • Costs of equipment and material.
  • Costs of contractual research, knowledge and patents acquired, as well as consultancy costs and similar services exclusively used for the project.
  • Overhead costs and other additional operating costs, including costs of materials, supplies and similar products.

Maximum funding rates

Amount of funding

The minimum investment per project is €1 million and the maximum funding is €15 million per company per project.

Programme 3: Large-scale electrolysis demonstrators and innovative renewable hydrogen production projects.

– EUR 100 million –

Large-scale electrolysis demonstrator projects with more than 20 MW of power along the challenges associated with R&D and the industrialisation of electrolysers, the deployment of solutions and their full integration in an industrial environment.

Sub-programme 3(a): Development and manufacturing of a large innovative electrolyser.

– EUR 40 million –

A first innovative large electrolyser prototype (above 20 MW) including breakthrough components compared to the existing global status quo, mainly in terms of manufacturing and/or design features with an impact on its performance and/or efficiency.

Eligible costs

  • Costs of staff assigned to the project. The maximum per hour per person is 60 €.
  • Costs of equipment and material.
  • Costs of contractual research, knowledge and patents acquired, as well as consultancy costs and similar services exclusively used for the project.
  • Overhead costs and other additional operating costs, including costs of materials, supplies and similar products.

Maximum funding rates

Amount of funding

The minimum investment per project is €1 million and the maximum funding is €15 million per company per project.

If more than half of the eligible costs of the project is related to experimental development activities, the applicant must provide a report by a certification entity that is recognised by the spanish National Accreditation Body (“Entidad Nacional de Acreditación (ENAC)”). This report must justify if the project fulfils the experimental development criteria, according to the nature of the project and the activities planned.

Sub-programme 3(b): Development and manufacturing of a large innovative electrolyser.

– EUR 60 million –

Real and effective installation of a large electrolyser in an industrial environment as a demonstrator of the feasibility of mass production of renewable hydrogen. This demonstrator should be above 20 MW of electrolysis capacity.

Renewable source of the power must be justified, being admitted the following options:

  • Option 1 (on-site renewables): New dedicated renewable power generation facilities.
  • Option 2 (on-grid renewables): Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) subscribed with newly built renewable installations for at least 10 years.
  • Both solutions combined

Eligible costs

Eligible investment costs will be calculated by comparison to a similar, less environmentally friendly investment that could feasibly have been carried out without support. That difference of costs for both investments will be the eligible cost.

A similar reference investments for a methane steam refining facility of an equivalent power, estimated at €0.25 M/MWe.

Maximum funding rates

In accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014, the maximum funding rate will be 45% of the eligible costs.

This rate may be increased by a maximum of 20 percentage points where SMEs are involved.

Amount of funding

The minimum investment per project is €1 million and the maximum funding is €15 million per company per project.

Programme 4: basic-fundamental research challenges, innovative pilots and training in key enabling technologies.

– EUR 40 million –

Innovation projects along the whole renewable hydrogen value chain, covering generation, storage, transport and distribution, as well as end-use applications. For the first call, only industrial research and experimental development are included.

Eligible projects may include advances in higher performance electrolysers in less developed technologies (for example AEM and SOEC), system or application developments for production using bioprocesses, artificial photosynthesis (photo-electrocatalysis – PEC), developments in materials, new fuel cells, new and innovative hydrogen storage systems.

It also includes educational and training activities on professional skills and expertise. This includes, amongst others, the establishment of Centres of Excellence (CoE) attached to non-university research institutions and, on the other hand, the commitment to teach know-how and skills in Vocational Training Centres linked to manufacturing, operation and maintenance, including staff in factories, assembly lines and service facilities (for example, FCEV type vehicles).

Eligible costs

  • Costs of staff assigned to the project. The maximum per hour per person is 60 €.
  • Costs of equipment and material.
  • Costs of contractual research, knowledge and patents acquired, as well as consultancy costs and similar services exclusively used for the project.
  • Overhead costs and other additional operating costs, including costs of materials, supplies and similar products.

For training activities, the eligible costs are:

  • Trainers’ staff costs, for hours spent by the staff involved in training.

  • Operating costs of trainers and beneficiaries of training.

  • Costs of consultancy services related to the training project.

  • Staff costs of training beneficiaries and general indirect costs (administrative costs, rent, overheads).

Maximum funding rates

For training, maximum funding rate must not exceed 50 % of the eligible costs. It may be increased up to a maximum of 70 %:

  1. By up to 10 percentage if the training is given to people with disabilities or disadvantaged employees.
  2. By up to 20 percentage if the training is given to SMEs.

Amount of funding

The minimum investment per project is € 0,5 million and the following maximum total funding is also set:

  • €20 million per company per project if it is an “industrial research” project and €15 million per company per project if it is an “experimental development” project.

  • 2 million per training project.

Beneficiaries

  • Micro, small, medium and large companies including business partnerships

  • Consortiums or partnerships with at least one SME involved

  • The public sector of any Public Administration

  • Technology centres

Deadline for applying and duration of calls for proposals

The call for applications for this funding programme will be managed through the IDAE’s website from 8 April 2022 until 7 June 2022.

Rating and selection of applications

A minimum score of 50 points will be required and, in addition, projects scoring less than 50% of the maximum achievable points in the criteria “Technical characteristics”, “Project feasibility” and “Technological scalability and market potential” will not be admitted. Finally, preference will be given to the application with the highest score in the “Project feasibility” criteria.

Technical characteristics

The level of development of the technology will be considered, promoting the development of technologies according to their TRL and the innovation rate. The evaluation will also include the achievement of the objectives of Component 9.

Economic feasibility

Clarity, detailed and justified estimated budget and economic-financial analysis will be valued. Projects with the highest investment ratios in terms of the public funding requested will also be better valued.

Project feasibility

Here the quality, detail and coherence of the Descriptive Report will be valued, as well as the progress made towards obtaining the necessary administrative requirements. The analysis of identified risks and collaboration between business and the scientific community will be rated. Finally, the guaranteed demand for the project’s “product” will be valued.

Technological scalability and market potential

Scale and market potential will be evaluated and national and European value chain from key equipment suppliers and the involvement of industrial actors will be also assessed.

Externalities

The following items will be evaluated:

  • Job creation, social and gender policies

  • Fair transition and demographic challenge

  • Environmental improvements and circular economy

  • Training and skills development

Deadlines for execution and justification, notifications and advertisement

  • The deadline for the execution of the supported projects will be 36 months, whilst the maximum period for justifying the project will be 3 months.
  • Ten working days are available, from the day following receipt of the requirement, to rectify the fault.
  • Applicants may submit their objections to the proposed provisional resolution within ten working days starting on the first day following its publication on the IDAE’s website.
  • Beneficiary entities must notify their acceptance of the resolution within ten working days starting on the first day following its notification, understanding that they withdraw their application if there is no reply within this period.
  • IDAE’s final resolution, within a maximum period of 6 months after publishing the call for applications.