European Commission Completes Inaugural Hydrogen Matchmaking Round

Vendor offers represented 265 projects spanning green hydrogen, lower-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives.

The European Commission said Tuesday the maiden roll-out of a matchmaking platform for hydrogen supply had been successful.

The Hydrogen Mechanism, part of the EU Energy and Raw Materials Platform, connects potential buyers in Europe with suppliers of renewable or low-carbon hydrogen, or derivatives including ammonia, methanol, eMethane and electro-sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF).

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In the first round, vendor offers represented 265 projects spanning green hydrogen, lower-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives. "87 percent of the suppliers have received an interest from at least 1 potential offtaker", the Commission said in an online statement. "50 percent of the suppliers have received interests from at least 3 potential offtakers".

"For derivatives, supply opportunities were connected to 47 projects for renewable or low-carbon ammonia; 37 projects for renewable or low-carbon methanol; 14 projects for renewable or low-carbon e-SAF; 18 projects for renewable or low-carbon e-Methane.

"54 percent of the opportunities provided a price indication".

Suppliers represented 33 countries including 16 EU member states. Their offers were made to 20 EU countries.

"On the demand-side, offtakers requested deliveries in 10 EU countries (Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain)", the Commission said.

"During this first round, the Hydrogen Mechanism gave future producers of hydrogen a transparent and easy way to test demand for their specific projects and find potential offtakers, without the administrative burden of running individual processes", it said.

The supply opportunities were presented to buyers in a way that offered them "the market intelligence they need to support their procurement processes and assess whether and how to enter the nascent hydrogen market", the Commission said.

"With the matching phase complete, it is for the participants themselves to take the next step and engage directly with one another outside of the Hydrogen Mechanism to explore future collaborations", it said.

"Building on these encouraging results, the Commission is now reflecting on the next steps for the Hydrogen Mechanism, including how to support infrastructure development".

The broader EU Energy and Raw Materials Platform lets buyers in the 27-member bloc communicate their demand for biomethane, hydrogen, natural gas and raw materials to suppliers. The online platform seeks to give EU companies cost-effective and efficient access to such commodities by enabling negotiations with competing suppliers, according to the Commission.

The Hydrogen Mechanism will operate until 2029 under the European Hydrogen Bank, as specified under the EU's "Regulation on the Internal Markets for Renewable Gas, Natural Gas and Hydrogen". The Hydrogen Bank is an EU Innovation Fund financing platform to scale up the green hydrogen value chain.