Innovation Fund — Hydrogen Bank Auction 3
Provides research teams and institutions for Innovation Fund Hydrogen Bank Auction in climate technology and energy systems.
Eligibility · EU member states
⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.
The IF25 Hydrogen Auction (INNOVFUND-2025-AUC-H2) is the third edition of the European Hydrogen Bank auction, operated under the EU Innovation Fund and administered by CINEA. The auction mechanism provides a fixed production premium per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced, allowing applicants to bid competitively: participants submit a price in euros per kilogram of hydrogen, bids are ranked from lowest to highest, and the available budget is allocated until exhausted. The total budget envelope for the third auction was €1.3 billion. By comparison, the second Hydrogen Bank auction (IF24) awarded approximately €1 billion, and the first (IF23) awarded approximately €720 million. The auction opened on 4 December 2025 alongside the first-ever IF25 Heat Auction, with a submission deadline of 19 February 2026 at 17:00 CET. Results were expected in Q2 2026 with grant agreements targeted for Q3 2026.
Eligibility is limited to companies and organisations producing hydrogen that qualifies as Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) under EU delegated regulations, which impose specific rules on electrolysis, additionality of renewable electricity, and temporal and geographical correlation. Universities and research organisations are not eligible for this instrument. There is no co-funding requirement: the Innovation Fund covers the full cost gap between the market price and the bid price, up to the committed production volumes. The auction covers the entire European Economic Area — EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
The call identifier INNOVFUND-2025-AUC-H2 was used on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal, which handled all submissions. INNOVFUND-2025-AUC-H2 is now closed. The IF26 Hydrogen Auction is expected as part of the broader IF26 call cycle in late 2026; CINEA held a stakeholder consultation on IF26 in June 2026.
Renewable hydrogen production qualifying as renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), supported through a competitive price auction awarding a production premium per kilogram of hydrogen produced.
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