That the time was ripe had been announced just over a month ago by H2IT President Alberto Dossi, revealing the conclusion of the pre-notification phase of the document to the EU, but now the official news has arrived: the European Commission has approved what - in Brussels“ own bureaucratic language - is defined as ”a €6 billion Italian scheme to support the production of renewable hydrogen for the transport and industrial sectors‘, but which in Italy is more commonly known among observers and insiders as the ’tariff decree‘ or ’opex decree'.

This is the second element - after the recent transposition of the RED III targets - considered by many to be essential to enable the scale-up of the Italian H2 supply chain.

As the Commission explains in its note, the Italian scheme, worth a total of the considerable sum of EUR 6 billion, will promote the production of 200,000 tonnes per year of renewable hydrogen, a definition under which both hydrogen produced through electrolysis fuelled by electricity from renewable sources and hydrogen produced from biogenic sources through biological, bio-thermo-chemical and thermochemical processes are allowed.

The aid will take the form of two-way contracts for difference. Under these contracts, a reference price (‘strike price’) for hydrogen will be determined through a competitive procedure (auction). If the price of an alternative fuel used by hydrogen consumers falls below this reference price, Italy will pay the hydrogen producers the difference. If, on the other hand, the price of the counterfactual fuel exceeds the strike price, the beneficiaries will pay the difference to the Italian state. The scheme will remain in force until 31 December 2029.