EU greenlights France's 1 GW hydrogen production scheme — nuclear included

The European Commission approved a major French state aid scheme on 23 March 2026, backing the construction of up to 1 GW of electrolysis capacity for low-carbon hydrogen production.

The approval is notable for a politically charged detail: the scheme covers not only renewable hydrogen but also hydrogen produced using nuclear power — a classification that has long been contentious within EU policy circles.

Support will be distributed across three competitive tender rounds. The first covers 200 MW of capacity with an estimated budget of €797 million. Aid takes the form of a fixed premium per kilogram of hydrogen produced, under 15-year contracts — the kind of long-term revenue certainty that project developers need to make large electrolyser investments stack up financially.

All hydrogen produced under the scheme must be sold exclusively for direct industrial use, in sectors where electrification is not considered economically viable. Beneficiaries must comply with EU criteria for RFNBO (renewable fuels of non-biological origin) or the recently adopted delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen, which opens the door for nuclear-powered electrolysis to qualify.

The scheme feeds into France's broader national ambitions: 4.5 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, rising to 8 GW by 2035, with projected annual CO₂ savings of up to 1,100 kilotons. Whether those targets are realistic depends heavily on how quickly industrial demand for clean hydrogen materialises — and how far the cost gap with fossil hydrogen can be closed over the life of these 15-year contracts.