Background information

The measure was adopted in the context of the EU Hydrogen Strategy and the EU Green Deal, aiming to contribute to the development of renewable hydrogen in line with their objectives. The scheme will also contribute to the objectives of the REPowerEU Plan to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and fast forward the green transition.

The state aid scheme was launched in June 2022 (by an Order of Minister) and was approved by the European Commission in August 2022.

The €149 million state aid scheme is made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Content of measure

The scheme supports the construction of new installations for the production of renewable hydrogen. It aims to achieve by 31 December 2025 renewable hydrogen production capacities of at least 100 MW in electrolysis installations producing at least 10,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.

The scheme is open to

1. companies of all sizes that are active in the production of hydrogen or electricity,
2. administrative-territorial units, or
3. national institutes for research and development in the field of energy, including associations or partnerships formed by those actors.

The projects will be selected through a transparent bidding process, in which the potential beneficiaries will compete for the lowest amount of aid per MW of installed electrolysis capacity. The support will take the form of direct grants, the maximum amount of which cannot exceed €50 million per grant.

Use of measure

The number of beneficiaries is not known and the procedure of application for grants is still open.

In the procedure of the approval of the state aid scheme, the European Commission found that the scheme facilitates the development of certain economic activities, in particular the production of renewable hydrogen. The Commission states that the measure has an ‘incentive effect', as the beneficiaries would not carry out the investments in renewable hydrogen to the same extent without the public support.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies Other businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government EU (Council, EC, EP)	European Funds National funds National Recovery and Resilience Facility

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement, since the case is not in the social partners' domain.

Views and reactions

No views have been expressed publicly by social partners regarding the content of the measure.

Sources

• 28 June 2022: Order of Minister for the approval of the state aid scheme for the support of production of hydrogene (energie.gov.ro)
• 28 June 2022: Order of Minister for the approval of the guidelines for the state aid scheme of hydrogene production (energie.gov.ro)