VERBUND and AustroCel Hallein GmbH are launching a major project in Hallein: Green hydrogen will be produced there using renewable electricity and directly combined with a biogenic byproduct of Hallein's production – biogenic CO₂ – to create climate-neutral eMethanol – a liquid energy carrier intended to help industry and transportation reduce their CO₂ emissions.

The electrolysis plant has a capacity of 20 megawatts, is funded with €100 million, and is expected to increase domestic hydrogen production by approximately 60% by 2030 at the latest.

New information includes details about the project:

• The plan is to build an electrolysis plant with a capacity of 20 MW for the production of approximately 2,600 tons of hydrogen per year. The hydrogen produced will be completely processed into green methanol.
• In addition to creating new qualified jobs locally, the project promotes the decarbonization of domestic industry by saving up to 20,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually , which corresponds to the emissions of around 11,000 cars per year.

as well as information on the amount of funding:

• €100 million
• For comparison: Across the EU , the second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank distributed a total of almost €1 billion (around €992 million) to 15 projects. Of these, only six projects have been finalized, with a funding volume of around €270 million.
  • During the same period, Austria is supporting the national hydrogen ramp-up with a total of around €275 million for four projects, which is on the order of about one third of the EU auction volume.