Europe is offering €370 million ($400 million) to Italian companies to set up a 'Green Hydrogen Valley' in Puglia. Italian energy company Edison (part of EDF Group), energy contractor Saipem, and Sosteneo SGR (the green finance arm of financial group Generali) said they planned to set up 260 MW of solar photovoltaic capacity and 160 MW of electrolysis capacity around the cities of Brindisi and Taranto to produce green hydrogen.

The fuel will be used to decarbonize manufacturing of direct reduced iron at Italy's largest steel plant in Taranto as well as other Italian steel mills. The European Commission has included the initiative in its Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) category, thereby unlocking funds from the European Union for project development.