The European Commission has approved a €1.2bn (PLN5bn) Polish scheme to support investments in strategic sectors to foster the transition towards Net Zero.
The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF). The aid will take the form of direct grants, open to companies producing relevant equipment or related raw materials across the new energy sector.
The TCTF supports measures accelerating the rollout of renewable energy, those facilitating the decarbonisation of industrial processes and fostering investments in key sectors for the transition towards Net Zero.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy, said the grants will support investments in strategic equipment, namely batteries, solar panels, heat-pumps, wind turbines, electrolysers and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
She said, “This will help accelerate the transition to a Net Zero economy, in line with the objectives of the Green Deal Industrial Plan and the EU’s climate neutrality target. At the same time, competition distortions remain limited.”
Member States can support investments in the decarbonisation of industrial activities with a view to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, through electrification, energy efficiency and the switch to the use of renewable and electricity-based hydrogen which complies with certain conditions, with expanded possibilities to support the decarbonisation of industrial processes switching to hydrogen-derived fuels.
Poland, mainly reliant on coal, needs to step up its clean energy strategies although it is in third position among European hydrogen producers, behind Germany and the Netherlands, with an annual production of approximately 1.3 million tonnes – though only a marginal share of hydrogen comes from renewable sources.
The development of hydrogen economy requires the creation of the entire value chain, in particular the construction of new RES power generation capacity, installations for the production of hydrogen and its derivatives from low-carbon sources. Five ‘hydrogen valleys’ are planned by 2030 along with 2,000 MW of low-carbon hydrogen production facilities and 1,000 hydrogen buses.
Plans for a new generation of gas-fired power plants would make it ‘impossible’ for it to meet Net Zero emissions by 2050 and cost taxpayers $4.4bn, research by thinktank Carbon Tracker stated two years ago.
