OWE: Applications

Along with your application for the subsidy, submit your application for the environmental part of the environmental permit (under the Environment and Planning Act or under the Environmental Permitting (General Provisions) Act) or the environmental and planning permit itself if it has already been granted. These documents are required for the commissioning of the power generation facility for hydrogen. By enclosing the environmental and planning permit application with the subsidy application, you are proving that you have confirmation from the authority that your application has been accepted and considered. Send the actual permit as soon as it arrives. You need it for receiving advances.

The environmental and planning permit for the building section does not have to be finalised and you are not required to submit it.

If your project is offshore, then submit the permit application or granted permit required under the Dutch Environment and Planning Act (or the Dutch Water Act, if the permit application was submitted before 1 January 2024).

Will your plant be linked to a yet-to-be-built onshore renewable electricity power generation facility using wind or solar power? Then enclose the permit for this new facility too. This concerns the building section of the environmental and planning permit (omgevingsvergunning). There is no need to include a permit for the wind farm if it concerns a link with a wind farm yet to be built offshore. 

Please include the following technical specifications from the supplier of the electrolyser. The nominal electrical input power of the electrolyser must be specified in greater detail, namely, the direct current input power at the beginning of the electrolyser’s service life. This applies only to the electrolyser, not to the whole facility. 

Please send a project plan along with your application that includes:

• a description of your hydrogen power generation facility;
• the activities that have to be carried out to build this facility;
• a timetable stating the planned start date of these activities and the planned date when the facility will be completed, defining at least three milestones;
• a budget of the costs per section. This concerns the costs of your hydrogen power generation facility using electrolysis once you have submitted your application.

Please use our template (in Dutch) when drafting your project plan.

You substantiate the feasibility of your project in the combined investment budget and the feasibility study (in Dutch). Please include the following in this template:

• the project details and investment budget;
• the budget for the milestones;
• a calculation of the hydrogen yield, in which you indicate:
  • the volume of hydrogen per calendar year, broken down by fully renewable hydrogen and the hydrogen that is not fully renewable; 
  • the energy generation efficiency of the power generation facility; 
  • the availability of the power generation facility (hours per annum or a percentage); 
  • the availability of the electricity generated sustainably (hours per annum or a percentage);
  • the degradation of the electrolyser.
• a calculation to determine the costs of operating the facility: a breakdown of investment costs, costs and revenues per year, and the yield of the project over the entire duration of the grant;
• a financing plan;
• insight into your capital as an applicant and, if the share of the capital you contribute is less than 20%, a letter of intent from the funder.

In the part of your feasibility study that discusses the operation, you may take into account revenue from renewable fuel units, emission reduction units and renewable hydrogen units for industry if your project includes them. You have to be able to prove that the revenue is realistic. 

• Your feasibility study should demonstrate how you intend to sell the hydrogen, both in terms of volume and price.

Our manual sets out how you can complete these mandatory sections.

The template also gives calculations concerning: 

• whether the production price in your application is within the maximum for each kilogramme of renewable hydrogen generated (second tab);
• the amount used for the ranking based on the data you entered (second tab). 

What is your production price?

For the operating part, apply for the cost price of renewable hydrogen (i.e. the production price). This is the subsidy amount per kilogramme of renewable hydrogen generated. You determine this amount yourself, but it has been capped at € 10.7997 per kilogramme. The cost price in your application applies for the entire subsidy period. You can apply for an operating period of at least 5 years up to a maximum of 10 years. So you can be certain that you will make a profit on your investment. 

Please note that when completing the subsidy application form, the maximum of € 10.7997 per kilogram only applies if you do not apply for an investment subsidy. If you do apply for an investment subsidy, the maximum production price will be reduced by the amount of investment subsidy applied for, divided by the total amount of fully renewable hydrogen you intend to produce. 

What is the amount used to rank your application?

Under this scheme, companies compete for the available subsidy. The projects with the highest scores are given a subsidy. We do this based on a ranking. For this, we do not distinguish between direct-line, grid-connected and dual-connected projects.

We calculate the ranking amount (euros per megawatt) by dividing the investment subsidy amount (in euros) and the subsidy amount (in euros) for operating the facility and the subsidy previously received by the nominal electrical input power of the electrolyser (in megawatts). The size of your project therefore does not affect this.

We take any previously received investment subsidy into account when calculating the ranking amount. This does not give you an advantage in the ranking.

The formula we use for ranking is: 

• ranking amount = (investment subsidy amount in € + previously granted investment subsidy in € + the maximum operating subsidy amount in €) / nominal electrical input power of the electrolyser in megawatts. 

You calculate your ranking amount as follows:

• by entering your project details and subsidy amounts to be applied for the investment part and the operating part in the second tab of the template;
• or by using the calculation tool given below for an indication. Please note that this tool is less detailed and does not take the project returns into account. The actual ranking amount is given in your completed model investment budget and feasibility study.

Enter the information from your model in the application form.

If you are not the owner of the site for the power generation facility, you will need permission from the owner of that site. Please have the owner complete and sign the ‘Permission from the site owner’ form (in Dutch).

Using this form, the owner of the site gives you permission to install and operate a power generation facility at this site during the term of your subsidy. If there is more than one owner, they must all give their permission on this form.

Please note that either the subsidy applicant or the owner who completes the form must be officially registered in the land registry as the owner or leaseholder of the site.

For a grid-connected or dual-connected facility, send a written offer from an energy supplier (power purchase agreement, PPA) along with the application. This agreement must at least state: 

• from which solar and/or wind farm the electricity originates;
• the period during which the electricity will be supplied;
• the volume of electricity;
• the price, or how it will be calculated;
• the term of validity of the offer; 
• that the offer is valid for at least the first 3 years of the operating phase. Also mention this in the final report of the realisation.

The winners of the tenders for the offshore wind energy sites IJmuiden Ver Alpha and Beta were announced on Tuesday 11 June 2024. If you would like to use power from an offshore wind farm in this area, then you have to submit a written offer from the winner of one of these tenders. 

Please enclose a transmission capacity estimate with your application for a grid-connected hydrogen power generation facility or a dual-connected hydrogen power generation facility. 

This must demonstrate that sufficient transmission capacity is available on the power grid for the site your application relates to. You can apply for this information from your grid operator. Because the transmission capacity of the electricity grid can fluctuate, your grid operator has to give the indication within 3 months before applying for the subsidy. Your grid operator decides whether you will be given a transmission capacity estimate.

Private grid

Would you like to connect your power generation facility to a private grid (closed-distribution system grid)? In that case, you and the private grid operator must request a transmission capacity estimate from your national or regional grid operator. This is the grid operator who is responsible for the transfer point to which the private grid is connected.

If you are applying for a hydrogen power generation facility that is only connected to a wind and/or solar farm with a direct line, then you are not required to submit a transmission capacity estimate.

Grid operators

• Liander
• Enexis Netbeheer
• Stedin
• Tennet
• Coteq
• Westland Infra

If you do not know who your grid operator is, then check this in the EAN code book.

Submit your application along with the various documents. You yourself must prepare the following sections:

• the investment budget and the feasibility study for your project;
• the project plan;
• a transmission capacity estimate;
• the requisite permits for your facility or the applications for these permits, together with confirmation from the competent authority that it has been considered (this varies according to the type of plant);
• the form granting permission from the owner(s) if you are not the owner of the site (mandatory format);
• the technical specification of the electrolyser;
• a written offer for the purchase of renewable power.

You may only submit your application during an application round. The digital application environment will become available at least two weeks in advance. Then you can prepare a draft version of your application. Click on the ‘Arrange your application immediately’ button on this page once the subsidy is open for applications. You will then be directed to the digital application environment.

To submit an application using eHerkenning, you will need at least Level 3 Netherlands Enterprise Agency services authorisation at Level eH3.

If you don’t have eHerkenning yet, apply for it in good time. Bear in mind that it may take a few working days to process.

It is not possible to apply for this subsidy scheme based on a supply chain authorisation. Read more about the various ways to log in.

If you are logging in for the first time, you will be directed to the profile screen. Complete the required fields and save them. You will then be logged out and will need to log in again.

Complete the following steps once you have logged in:

• On the ‘New application’ tab, open the ‘Forms catalogue’ in the ‘Subsidy scheme for large-scale hydrogen production using an electrolyser (OWE)’ form for this application round.
• Enter all the information about your hydrogen power generation facility in the form.
• Check your entries with the ‘Check’ button before moving on to the next tab. If any information is missing or has not been entered correctly, then you will get a message stating that you have to enter or change the information.
• You can upload documents on the last tab of the application form. There is an asterisk (*) next to the mandatory attachments.
• Check the application for errors before you submit it. If you are sent error messages, go to the tab with the error message to correct the information you entered.

Bear the following in mind:

• Your application form will be saved automatically when you navigate to the next tab. You can also save the information in the interim. After saving the information you can log off and then log in again later. You can then continue where you left off.
• First scan all your supporting documents and upload them in the digital application environment. If a file is larger than the maximum of 20 MB per attachment, then send the document in several parts with your application.

To send your form, click ‘Ready to send’ on the ‘Verification’ tab. All questions and answers will then appear in sequence on the screen. Check your application again carefully and make sure you’ve included all the mandatory attachments.

Tick the ‘Declaration and signature’ button. Finally, send your application by clicking ‘Sign and send’.

Bear the following in mind:

• Immediately after you submit your application, you will be sent a confirmation of receipt with a project number to the email address that you entered in your profile. You can use this number in any communications relating to your application.
• Your application will be saved in ‘My applications’. You can always consult it there.

We process all submitted applications. We assess whether the applications are complete. We then rank them based on the ranking criteria to determine which projects qualify for the subsidy.

You will receive a notification of our decision within 13 weeks after submitting your application. We may extend this period once for 13 weeks at most.

If your application has been assessed, you will be sent a letter with this decision, stating whether you have been granted a subsidy.

If your application is granted, you can begin implementing your project. Consult the Implementing your project page to see how this is done. You will also have obligations, which will be explained in the letter. The page outlining the implementation phase sets out these obligations.

If you believe that our decision is not correct, then you can lodge an objection within six weeks from the date on which the decision was issued. The decision is in the letter. The letter also explains how to lodge an objection.