OWE: Building your facility
Has your application for the ‘Subsidy scheme for large-scale hydrogen production using an electrolyser (OWE)’ been approved? And are you beginning to implement your project? Or would you like to know what the implementation phase involves, before you submit a subsidy application? Then read about the steps you need to take to build and commission your facility.
What does the implementation phase entail?
You have received a letter from us informing you that your subsidy application has been approved. This is called a ‘positive decision’. Now the implementation phase of your project begins. This is the phase between receiving the decision awarding the subsidy and when you start operating (commissioning) your power generation facility.
It is the phase in which you implement the project plan according to the conditions set out in your subsidy decision. If you applied for the subsidy scheme for large-scale hydrogen production in 2023, then you have 4 years in which to build the hydrogen plant. If you applied in 2024, you have 5 years.
You will be given the investment part of your subsidy during the implementation phase. We pay it out in advances. You will only receive the advances if the requisite permits for the project have been finalised.
What do the advances entail?
Your project plan mentions several milestones. Each time, you will be given an advance payment for the costs you incur in the period between those milestones. This only concerns the costs covered by the subsidy (eligible costs).
We pay the advances in quarterly instalments and within 2 weeks of the start of the activities. The advance amounts to 90% of the maximum amount eligible for a subsidy in the quarter in question.
Once you have finished building your facility, we check whether you have been given too much or not enough subsidy. We call this ‘adjusting the amount’. We adjust the advance for the investment part based on your final report. We will send you the adjusted subsidy decision within 13 weeks of receiving the final report.
- If it turns out that the total advances are less than 100% of the final investment subsidy amount, then we will pay out the amount not received within 6 weeks of the adjusted subsidy decision.
- If it turns out that the total advances are more than 100% of the final investment subsidy amount, then we will ask you to pay back the unduly paid amount, which means that you will have to refund that amount to us.
What are your obligations?
During the implementation phase, there are several occasions on which you are obliged to communicate with us. You can read about these obligations in the drop-down menu.
Until you have commissioned your facility, you have to send us a progress report on its implementation once a calendar year. We will send you a letter about this each year. This progress report must state the following:
- a description of your experiences;
- information about the progress;
- an up-to-date schedule of the steps to be taken to complete the facility.
Sometimes the implementation of a project does not go according to plan. Please notify us if the costs between two milestones in your project plan exceed more than 25% of the costs that you submitted in our investment budget. Do so as soon as possible.
Please send these and any other changes to us via owe@rvo.nl. State the project number and what you would like to change in your email. We will assess your request. You will be sent a written response to your request for an amendment. We only accept requests for a change if they come from the applicant or an authorised intermediary.
You are not permitted to transfer a subsidy to another organisation, unless we give you prior permission to do so at the applicant’s request. Apply for a transfer request using the ‘Request change of subsidy recipient’ form. This form will be sent to you at a later stage.
Please submit a final report to us within 13 weeks of the date on which your facility was commissioned. Please use the obligatory template for this report. It will be sent to you at a later stage. This report must include the following:
- a description of your experiences with the implementation of your facility;
- a breakdown of eligible costs incurred and paid by you for each item (as included in the budget), with supporting documentation;
- an overview of any income received by you, including subsidies from a scheme other than the subsidy scheme for large-scale hydrogen production or other government support for the building of your facility;
- an audit opinion from your accountant.
If you have a grid-connected or a dual-connected facility, then please also submit renewable power purchase agreements for wind or solar power for the electricity. For applications for the subsidy scheme for large-scale hydrogen production submitted in 2023, this only applies during the first five years for the production of fully renewable hydrogen. For applications for the subsidy scheme for large-scale hydrogen production submitted in 2024, you submit the power purchase agreements for the first three years.
- Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth
