HINT.CO GmbH

The Hydrogen Intermediary Network Company (HINT.CO) is a daughter company of the non-profit H2Global Foundation. Within the H2Global funding mechanism, HINT.CO serves as an intermediary to purchase and sell green power-to-X (PtX) products. H2Global is an auction-based mechanism with the objective to promote a timely and effective PtX market ramp-up on an industrial scale. Currently, high upfront investment costs, the inability to recover these costs and the overall inhibiting regulatory environment contribute to a market failure with actors holding on to emission intensive products and technologies. The corresponding lack in available and affordable climate-neutral energy sources prevents CO2 emitters from decarbonizing quickly and consistently. To help overcome this market failure, a dedicated intermediary, the HINT.CO, will conclude long-term purchase contracts on the supply side and short-term sales contracts on the demand side. Based on a mechanism in analogy to the Contracts for Difference (CfD) approach, the difference between supply prices (production and transport) and demand prices will be compensated by HINT.CO using grant funding from the German government. The combination of these long-term purchase agreements with HINT.CO as a government-backed off-taker provide the necessary investment security to unlock large-scale investments now, resulting in a catalytic effect for ramping up the hydrogen economy.