Renewable hydrogen and gas production grant

The conditions below relate to call 02/C14-i01/2023, which has closed.

• Projects must operate in mainland Portugal using tested technologies at technology readiness level 8 or higher: a complete, qualified system, rather than an early prototype. The plant may be owned by the applicant or a third party. Production must use renewable energy; low-carbon gas produced from fossil inputs does not qualify. Biogas upgrading must use biomass without fossil contamination.
• Applicants must be legally constituted and entitled to carry out the activity, have organized accounts, settle tax, social-security and European-fund repayment obligations, and have no unpaid wages. They need the staff, equipment and financial resources by approval, and a balanced financial position or evidence they can finance the operation. A Portuguese project company may have a foreign parent.
• Companies must pass the call's financial-distress test. It excludes insolvency or qualifying insolvency circumstances; for limited-liability companies and companies with unlimited-liability partners, accumulated losses consuming more than half the relevant capital also count. For a company that is not a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), exclusion also applies if, in each of the two previous years, its book debt exceeded 7.5 times its equity and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were lower than its interest costs. Pending recovery orders for unlawful state aid are excluded, as is holding or having held more than 50% of a company that failed to comply with a European-fund repayment notification. The call also counts holdings by a spouse who is not legally separated, cohabiting partner, parent or child for this test.
• Projects need a favourable technical opinion from DGEG confirming that their production technology is eligible, evidence of the application to register renewable-gas production with DGEG, a technical description, timetable, budget and post-investment financial-viability study. Registration must be completed and evidenced within one month of approval or approval is revoked. Show why the project would not proceed, or would be smaller, without support. Have required permits and the property owner's consent where the applicant is not the owner.
• Demonstrate compliance with the EU 'Do No Significant Harm' requirement: protect water quality and avoid excessive pressure on water resources throughout the activity's life, identify applicable environmental permissions and show how they will be obtained. Hydrogen must meet the applicable EU renewable-fuel electricity-sourcing rules; the FAQ requires matching electricity supply and hydrogen production geographically and over time, and, where applicable, additional renewable electricity generation. For capacity operating before 1 January 2028, the FAQ describes a deferral until 2038 for the additional-generation requirements in Article 5(a) and (b); the geographical and time-matching rules still apply.
• Construction, binding equipment orders or other irreversible commitments must begin only after application. Buying or renting land, obtaining permits and carrying out studies do not count as starting work. The original call required a start within 180 days of contract signature and an operational plant by 31 December 2025; extensions required the contract formalities and could not undermine PRR targets.
• An identical application awaiting a decision or already approved cannot be submitted again unless withdrawn. Projects previously approved under POSEUR-01-2020-19, the first C14 hydrogen call or implemented under SAFE may transfer only after formal withdrawal or termination, renouncing the earlier payment and returning anything already paid with nothing outstanding. Their support cannot exceed the previous award. Public-entity criteria are adapted to their nature where possible.

For supported projects involving grid injection or energy storage, distribution or transmission network owners cannot also receive remuneration from the national electricity or gas system for the grant-funded part of that investment. Beneficiaries must notify the energy-services regulator, ERSE.

Approved projects must keep funded assets in the activity and, where applicable, the approved location for at least five years after final payment, or three for SMEs, unless a longer rule applies. Fundo Ambiental's prior consent is needed for relevant cessation, relocation, ownership or substantial project changes and for repurposing, leasing, selling or encumbering funded assets. Submit quarterly progress reports, keep digital project records for the legally required period, allow inspections, publicize the funding and repay unduly received support.

Status

lukket

Åbner

16. mar. 2023

Lukker

31. jul. 2023

Vilkår for ansøgningsrunden

• Closed call 02/C14-i01/2023; these terms relate to its historical intake.[^c18]

The 2023 window is closed. That round required registration and authentication on Fundo Ambiental's website, a completed Balcão dos Fundos registration, and submission of the form and supporting documents through the programme's electronic application channel. DGEG's favourable prior opinion and registration documents were required. Applications were ranked by merit and needed at least 2.5 out of 5 points as well as sufficient available budget.

If your project was approved, use SIGA for payment requests after completing Balcão dos Fundos registration. Choose the payment route and notify Fundo Ambiental at gases_renovaveis@fundoambiental.pt at contract signing. One route provides an initial advance of up to 20% of the grant followed by reimbursement of paid eligible costs, with the advance deducted proportionately from reimbursements. It requires an on-demand bank guarantee for 20% of PRR support, valid through contract completion; surety insurance is not accepted. Fundo Ambiental calls on the guarantee only after definitive non-compliance with contractual and legal conditions, when an advance has been paid and not voluntarily returned. Withdrawal without harm to Fundo Ambiental, with no advance outstanding, leads to cancellation of the guarantee. To waive this route and its guarantee, notify Fundo Ambiental expressly by email within 30 working days after contract signature. The alternative combines payments against unpaid invoices, which must be regularized within 30 working days of receiving support, with reimbursement of paid invoices.

Request approval for project or timetable changes before claiming invoices that differ from the approved project. Reprogramming requests must normally arrive at least 60 days before contracted completion; force majeure outside your control is the exception. Cost increases require an approved reprogramming within the call's price-revision rules and €15 million cap; negative price revisions reduce eligible spending. Submit the final balance request with the final execution report after all actions finish and by the execution deadline, to release the conditionally retained 5%.