H2Global receives no bids for eSAF tender

German environmental and climate protection foundation H2Global said that it has received no bids for its first auction to secure supply of eSAF and opened consultation for the second auction with changes in fund allocations.

The first auction which was setup for three lots including Lot 1 for renewable ammonia, Lot 2 for renewable methanol and and Lot 3 for eSAF.

“Lots 2 and 3 covered renewable methanol and e-eSAF respectively, with the latter ending without a contract being awarded. As a result, the funds from eSAF will be allocated to the ongoing Lot 2 for renewable methanol. This offers bidders the opportunity to realize additional economies of scale,” said the company in its auctions results announcement.

The auction, spearheaded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, earmarked €900m for the purchase of green hydrogen derivatives in December 2022.

However, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action also launched the second auction for the H2Global hydrogen programme.

“In order to support the global market ramp-up of green hydrogen via purchase contracts and price signals, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is providing up to €3.53bn from the Climate and Transformation Fund for the H2Global hydrogen funding programme in the coming years,” the ministry said in a statement.

However, the ministry said that in the first H2Global window, lots were designed to be product-specific to procure ammonia, methanol and eSAF. But funding in the second window will be more open ended. “Therefore, in the second window, individual lots will be set up on a ‘vector-open’ or ‘product-open’ basis. One third of the funding will be dedicated to vector open lots,” it added.

In the Vector-open lots, funding will be for projects that use any method to transport hydrogen (vector refers to the carrier used for transportation) whereas product-open lots funding will be for projects that transport a clean fuel derived from hydrogen (possibly including ammonia, methanol, and eSAF but potentially others as well).

Furthermore, the auction will earmark one-third of the funding towards vector-open projects aiding in the development of new methods for hydrogen transportation.