DEI+ hydrogen and green chemistry

A business in the Netherlands, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba can apply alone or through a consortium containing at least one business, carrying out the project at its own expense and risk. Qualifying universities, universities of applied sciences and applied-research organisations, including foreign equivalents, can participate. Central government, provinces, municipalities and public bodies under the Dutch Joint Regulations Act cannot receive the grant; water boards can, subject to the applicable rules.

• Deliver emissions reductions in the Netherlands, including Caribbean Netherlands, within ten years of starting. Complete the project within four years and start within six months of the award letter. Do not start project work, incur project costs or make binding equipment commitments before applying. Preparatory permits and feasibility studies, and purchasing land for which no grant is requested, do not count as starting.
• Demonstrate technical and economic feasibility, credible success in the Dutch market and sufficient capacity to deliver. Pilots must be innovative compared with international technology; demonstrations are compared with Dutch technology. The grant must make a difference to carrying out the work or its timing. Include a useful plan to share knowledge. For a demonstration, the environmental benefit must arise in the applicant's own organisation. In a business–research partnership, the research organisation must not bear most of the project costs.
• Show how you will pay the costs the grant does not cover. Expected revenue from the project is not an accepted source for this contribution. If you use RVO's fixed hourly cost method, you cannot finance your own contribution from the subsidy for those staff hours.
• Your business must pass the EU “undertaking in difficulty” test. This checks capital losses, insolvency, outstanding rescue or restructuring support and, for large businesses, debt and interest-cover ratios. The capital-loss test concerns losing more than half of subscribed capital (or book capital for businesses with unlimited-liability partners); it exempts SMEs less than three years old. A large business fails the ratio test if, for both of the past two years, debt exceeds 7.5 times equity and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation cover less than its interest costs. Insolvency proceedings, or meeting the creditor-triggered insolvency criteria, also disqualify a business. Rescue aid with an unpaid loan or continuing guarantee, or an ongoing restructuring plan, counts; COVID-19 aid is excluded from that rescue/restructuring condition. When you belong to a group, RVO assesses your business and the full international group, but the group result determines whether you pass: an applicant in difficulty can pass if its group is not in difficulty. RVO may still require extra guarantees that your project contribution can be financed. The oldest group entity determines age. Complete the decision tool and provide the declaration, financial statements and group structure chart.
• Research partners need a cooperation agreement signed and submitted to RVO before work starts, covering costs, risks, results, dissemination and intellectual-property rights.
• Shared test facilities must provide transparent, non-discriminatory access to multiple users and charge market prices, or costs plus a reasonable margin where there is no market price. Businesses funding at least 10% of investment may receive proportionate priority or better terms, which must be published.

Blue hydrogen from natural gas with carbon capture, hydrogen made from biomass or waste, building decarbonisation and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure are excluded. Fossil fuels cannot be funded as hydrogen carriers. Ordinary mobility emissions projects are excluded, but producing sustainable transport fuels is an exception.

For hydrogen-production demonstrations and pilots that remain in use, additional electricity and emissions rules apply:

• Direct-line electrolysers use wind or solar electricity without passing through the grid. The renewable generator must be in the Netherlands. Their power cannot exceed the renewable generator's power, and that generator must have entered service no more than three years before the electrolyser. If you do not own it, a power purchase agreement must cover at least the electrolyser's consumption.
• Grid-connected and combined grid/direct-line electrolysers must enter service before 1 January 2028. Renewable grid hydrogen requires purchase agreements with Dutch wind or solar generators and production in the same month, with consumption no greater than the generator's production. Matching becomes hourly from 2030, unless brought forward.
• Grid production may include non-renewable hydrogen if lifecycle emissions are at least 70% lower than the fossil reference of 94 g CO₂-equivalent per megajoule. Calculate grid electricity emissions using marginal generation during the 15-minute grid-balancing periods when the electrolyser draws power from the grid. Any renewable share must meet the renewable sourcing rules. For a combined connection, each supply must meet its respective rules; electrolyser power cannot exceed the combined renewable generation covered by direct supply and agreements.
• Electricity storage must sit behind the same connection and be charged only with electricity matched to the renewable generator's production month and quantity.

Submit production, electricity and emissions evidence to RVO at final grant determination and annually before 1 April for five years afterwards. The annual submission covers the preceding calendar year, with the evidence broken down by month. These information duties stop once the minister awards an operating subsidy. They do not apply if the electrolyser has never entered service or a pilot electrolyser has been permanently taken out of service by final determination; in the latter case, provide proof that it has been permanently withdrawn. Production measurements require a protocol and report approved by a metering company. For each calendar month, exclusively renewable hydrogen requires evidence of at least 100% emissions saving against the same fossil reference; mixed or non-renewable production requires at least 70% lifecycle saving. An appropriate certificate from an EU-recognised voluntary scheme can replace the specified production evidence if it proves the installation, renewable production and any required 70% saving for mixed production.

Other public support can reduce your grant. Provincial and municipal support must fit the permitted state-aid ceiling; EU grants such as Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund also face a total public-financing limit for the same costs. Other central-government grants are deducted. The special exemption allowing OWE hydrogen-production support to stack without deduction was removed for 2026. SDE++ may be combined without reducing DEI+, but DEI+ can affect the SDE++ payment.

Stato

chiuso

Apre

27 gen 2026 · 09:00:00 UTC+01:00

Chiude

30 lug 2026 · 17:00:00 UTC+02:00

Restrizioni del bando

• Closed 2026 intake; terms describe that round. Complete applications were assessed in arrival order while budget remained.[^c1][^c56]

The hydrogen and green chemistry intake is temporarily closed. You can ask RVO to assess your project idea using the form linked from the official offer page. An adviser then contacts you.

The 2026 route used RVO's eLoket, with eHerkenning level 3 and authorisation for RVO services at eH3. Prepare the project plan, budget, CO₂ calculation and financial-distress declaration with its supporting documents. A consortium appoints a lead participant, and every participant provides a signed authorisation.

RVO assessed complete applications in arrival order until the budget was exhausted. Awardees with projects longer than twelve months provide annual progress reports and a public report. At completion, request final determination with a final report; grants from €25,000 to below €125,000 need a management declaration, and grants of €125,000 or more need an accountant's audit statement.