European Innovation Fund supports Dutch ELYgator hydrogen project

Hydrogen

The Netherlands – The European Innovation Fund has made a decision to award a grant to Air Liquide’s massive renewable hydrogen project ELYgator in the Netherlands.

This 200 MW electrolyzer project aims to produce renewable hydrogen and aid in the decarbonization of the transportation and industrial sectors in the Netherlands and surrounding nations. Out of 139 initial applications, the European Commission has chosen to fund the project through the European Innovation Fund.

ELYgator will be built in the Netherlands’ Terneuzen industrial basin with the aim of producing 15.5 kilotonnes of renewable hydrogen annually. The electrolyzer will be integrated into the transnational industrial basin between the Netherlands and Belgium and run entirely on renewable energy. Connecting to the cross-border pipeline network of Air Liquide will enable an optimal balance of flexibility and efficiency, maximizing the output of renewable energy production and accounting for its erratic nature.

Climate goals

Prior to starting, the project must receive additional funding, regulatory approvals, and feasibility studies. Innovative initiatives like ELYgator are required to meet national and European climate goals because they can contribute to decarbonization, especially in difficult-to-abate sectors. Over the first ten years of the plant’s operation, the ELYgator project would enable the avoidance of 3.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

One of the largest funding schemes in the world for the testing of novel low-carbon technologies is the EU Innovation Fund. Individual grant agreements will be prepared with the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA), the Innovation Fund’s implementation agency, following the favorable grant decision.

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