European Commission backs hydrogen innovation, funding will also go to Czechia

The European Commission has approved an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support research and innovation in hydrogen technologies. The project, called "IPCEI Hy2Tech", was jointly prepared and notified by fifteen Member States, including the Czech Republic.

The development of hydrogen technologies is among the European Union’s key energy priorities and is gaining further importance amid the current energy crisis. This was reflected, for example, in the REPowerEU plan, which calls for accelerating the transition to hydrogen and increasing its imports from abroad.

However, this is a relatively new application of the technology, which has so far been used rather rarely in the energy sector. This is also why the European Commission approved the IPCEI Hy2Tech project, allocating a total of EUR 5.4 billion to it. The European Commission expects these subsidies to mobilise a further EUR 8.8 billion in private-sector investment, while also accelerating the use of hydrogen in energy and industry in general.