Italy has been cleared to hand out up to €550m ($596m) of direct grants to help its industrial giants switch to green hydrogen — as both a chemical feedstock and energy source — instead of using polluting fossil fuels.
The EU yesterday (Tuesday) gave state-aid approval to the programme, which envisages the Italian government handing out direct grants of up to €200m per beneficiary in the industrial sector, including the production of chemicals, fertiliser and steel, and oil refining.
The cash, which will be distributed as part of Italy’s EU-funded €194bn National Recovery and Resilience Plan, must be used to shift the use of fossil fuel-based feedstocks or energy sources to renewable hydrogen.
However, the grants can be combined with wider electrification of industrial assets, along with energy efficiency improvements.
This means that, for example, a steel plant will be able to use the funds to invest both in…
