The governments of Australia and Germany have agreed to establish a bilateral H2Global tender, contributing €200 million each to a joint auction. The process will be similar to a recently-concluded pilot auction for long-term ammonia exports from Egypt to Rotterdam, and a just-launched Canadian scheme.
The Canadian government will allocate up to CAD 300 million for hydrogen & derivative exports to Europe, via a H2Global auction scheme. This funding commitment is expected to be matched by the German government, with the tender process set to launch before the end of this year.
Fertiglobe has won the first H2Global pilot auction for renewable ammonia, promising to deliver 397,000 tons of renewable ammonia between 2027 and 2033. H2Global’s announcement comes at the end of a two year auction process. Following the H2Global announcement, Fertiglobe committed to a twenty-year offtake deal for renewable hydrogen feedstock from the Egypt Green Hydrogen project, demonstrating the investor certainty fostered by the auction.
More than €4.7 billion is now available to support the growth of hydrogen derivative imports to the EU. Via its implementation entity Hintco, H2Global has already launched a series of auctions to fund ten-year purchase agreements for methanol, ammonia and SAF.
Germany and the Netherlands have forged a groundbreaking new hydrogen partnership, doubling down on their common vision of a thriving European green hydrogen import market. The countries have announced a joint H2Global tender worth €600 million launching in 2024, as well as a plan to develop cross-border hydrogen infrastructure. Also this month, a new €4 billion commitment to Africa from Germany will act as the “starting signal” for deeper cooperation on hydrogen & renewable energy. Meanwhile, a recent Fraunhofer ISE study provides key insights into the export markets that are best equipped to meet this new demand.
In a new policy brief, H2Global sets out the case for the use of blockchain in hydrogen certification. The use of a decentralised, digital, public ledger for key certification data could support the development of radically transparent and secure schemes, though H2Global acknowledges blockchain’s key limitations. To illustrate its potential, H2Global points to the success of two currently operating schemes based on blockchain: “GreenToken” and “Clean Energy Certification as a service” (CEC).
H2Global has quadrupled its funding for low-carbon hydrogen and derivatives, financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The funding will support H2Global’s contract-for-difference instrument which covers the increased costs of producing “green” hydrogen and provides secure long-term contracts for suppliers.
H2Global has launched its first tender process for the import of “green” ammonia into Europe, with a €360 million, ten year contract on offer beginning in 2024. In Germany, public gas company VNG and Total Eren will work towards ammonia imports into Rostock from 2028. VNG is already developing a significant clean production & import hub at Rostock, after an agreement with Equinor earlier this year.