EU eyes tighter rules in future green auctions

Larger bond payments and shorter startup windows likely as EU looks to build on success of inaugural European Hydrogen Bank auction

Projects bidding for subsidies via future rounds of the EU’s European Hydrogen Bank auction are expected to face stricter requirements, including tighter startup deadlines and the need to pay larger deposits, according to EU officials. The second auction, scheduled to take place by the end of this year, is expected to require bidding green hydrogen projects to start up within three years of subsidy awards, compared to five years under the recently completed first auction. Under the auction rules, projects failing to meet the startup deadline lose their deposit, or completion bond, which was set at 4% of the subsidy value for the first auction. Future auction rounds could see the bond raised