Intended start: end of August
Grant for scaling up fully renewable hydrogen production via electrolysis (OWE)
OWE is the Dutch abbreviation of a new grant to stimulate Dutch investments in green hydrogen production by electrolysis. The grant is for realising and operating a renewable hydrogen production plant. Note: the grant scheme has not yet been officially published. The description below is therefore still subject to change.
In short
Hydrogen via electrolysis overview
For who?
This grant is for companies that invest in (purchase and operation of) a plant to produce fully renewable hydrogen with electricity from solar or wind. More specifically, these are: Electrolysers with a capacity of 0.5 to a maximum of 50 MW.
When?
Applying for this grant will be possible after the scheme is officially finalised. The OWE is scheduled to be officially published in the “Staatstcourant” at the end of September 2023. The application round is then expected to be open from 30 November to 14 December 2023.Can't wait? Get in touch with us and stay up-to-date.
How much?
The subsidised amount can vary from project to project. The percentage subsidised will depend on company size: for large companies, the maximum subsidised amount is 40%. For medium-sized companies it is a maximum of 50%, and for small companies a maximum of 60%. The available grant budget totals over 245 million euros. A few grants (such as EIA or SDE) can be deducted from the OWE grant benefit.
For what?
This grant consists of two parts: an investment part and an operating part. The investment part is a contribution to the costs of (among other things) the electrolysis plant itself, and is paid during the realisation phase. The second part which contains the operating costs will be paid for 7 to 15 years after the realisation of the production plant.
Meet the requirements
OWE grant scheme criteria
The electrolysers have to have an input capacity of minimum 0.5 and maximum 50 MW, for hydrogen production that is "fully renewable" according to EU standards.
The plant must be connected to the electricity grid and/or have a direct line to the wind or solar PV plant generating renewable electricity.
The plant must emit 70% less greenhouse gas than a 'reference plant' (our experts will be happy to explain this criterion in more detail, with calculation examples).
The grant applicant must have the required (environmental) permits for the production plant, and demonstrable permission from the site owner.
Also required is a recent 'transmission indication' (in which the grid operator confirms the availability of transmission capacity for electricity use).
Also of note
The grant scheme will be implemented according to the tender principle: only the best assessed and ranked projects will receive the OWE grant. The determining factor is how much subsidy you need in relation to the input power of the electrolyser. In other words, the lower the requested subsidy amount per megawatt of electrical input power of the electrolyser to be realised, the higher the chance of obtaining the grant.
Why this grant?
Purpose of the OWE grant
With the OWE scheme, the government wants to encourage further scaling up of hydrogen via electrolysis. The Netherlands included the ambitious target of 3-4GW of hydrogen production by 2030 in the climate agreement. At the end of 2022, the cabinet tightened that target with a new target of 8GW of electrolysis capacity in 2032. Currently, 1MW of hydrogen is produced via electrolysis, which means a substantial scale-up is needed in the coming years. This will require further technology developments and investments.
Get in touch
What can EGEN do for you?
EGEN’s experts have years of experience with grants and know exactly what to look out for in schemes that distinguish between investment costs and operating costs (such as OWE and the earlier SDE).
Wondering how to make such a grant application optimally ‘competitive’? EGEN is happy to help you! Contact us using the contact form below.
“Despite being new, the scale-up instrument has many similarities with the SDE. Our years of experience with this instrument can therefore be used to prepare a good application as effectively as possible!”
Contact Joep Raats →
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