In the Basque Country, competition between large corporations is intensifying with the goal of building an ecosystem around hydrogen and spearheading projects and initiatives.
Repsol-Petronor and Iberdrola offer plans comprised of numerous projects and investments aimed at propelling the Basque industry and establishing an ecosystem and technological cluster on H2.
Green hydrogen offers significant potential as a source of energy for industrial processes and heavy transport in particular. Additionally, it has been regarded as a critical component of the economy’s decarbonization and the development of innovative industrial chains with a high added value.
As a result, firms such as Repsol, through its Basque subsidiary Petronor, and Iberdrola are implementing initiatives to bolster their positions in this future technology.
The first step in this direction was taken following the first wave of the pandemic, in June 2020, when Repsol announced a macro project in the Port of Bilbao: the construction of one of the world’s largest plants for the production of zero-emission fuels from carbon dioxide and green hydrogen generated using renewable energy, as well as another plant for the generation of gas from urban waste. Three months later, they received the parcels of land necessary to begin implementing these initiatives.
The future’s fuel
The next phase occurred in February 2021, when the BH2C Hydrogen Corridor, a Basque hub led by Repsol and Petronor, was unveiled. A dedication to hydrogen as the future fuel and technical vehicle for decarbonizing the energy, mobility, industrial, and service sectors. 78 groups, including businesses, institutions, and technological centers, have signed on.
According to BH2C, it will attract 1.5 billion euros in investment through 2026 and create 1,340 direct jobs and 6,700 indirect jobs, totaling more than 8,000 jobs critical to the Basque Country’s economic recovery. The investments will be divided into three categories: green hydrogen production with a total installed capacity of 112 MW; technological and industrial development across the value chain and digitization; and research into hydrogen uses in mobility, the residential sector, and industry.
Iberdrola submitted its concept two months later. The electric company is promoting the ‘Basque Y of green hydrogen’ initiative, which will see the construction of three hydrogen plants in the logistics hubs of Vitoria, Bilbao, and Pasajes (San Sebastian), with the goal of decarbonizing heavy land transport, buses, and light industrial vehicles, as well as regional port and airport operations and the chemical industry.
The proposal, which will cost more than 37 million euros, will involve the building of ten megawatts of electrolyzers capable of producing 4,000 kilograms of green hydrogen per day, as well as on-site photovoltaic plants for self-consumption. This, together with Iberdrola’s renewable energy, will enable these facilities to provide 100 percent renewable and emission-free electricity.
Local suppliers were consulted.
The project will directly and indirectly support 1,700 jobs during building and operation, as well as through the contracting of services and purchases from more than thirty local vendors.
Additionally, Iberdrola intends to incorporate energy storage equipment in the form of intelligent batteries to store excess photovoltaic production and feed it into the grid or use it for hydrogen generation at optimal periods.
Additionally, the project complements those presented by Iberdrola in Zaragoza and the Mediterranean Corridor, as well as the one developed in Barcelona’s Zona Franca, where the company has installed a hydrogen plant that will operate for ten years to power the buses of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) and other fleets and industries within the polygon.
The Basque hydrogen ‘Y’ is a Next Generation EU project that has the institutional backing of the Basque Government and the provincial councils of Alava, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa, as well as the city council of Vitoria and the Ports of Bilbao and Pasajes. Additionally, approximately twenty businesses support the program. This proposal is one of 175 that Iberdrola has submitted to European grants. They highlight 53 hydrogen-related activities that would mobilize 2,500 million dollars in investment to achieve yearly production of 60,000 tons.
30-40% of the Next Generation
For its part, the Basque Hydrogen Corridor aspires to have between 30 and 40 percent of its investments, some 1,500 million euros up to 2026, covered by the European Next Generation funds (between 450 and 600 million). At the moment, it has started to develop 41 projects, in which 200 million will be invested this year.
One of the investments is the project in the Abanto Technology Park in Bizkaia, which will come into operation in early 2023 and includes a 2.5 MW electrolyzer, a hydrogen plant, a hydroproduct and a mobility park.
A slow-charge bus recharging facility is also planned. The project will entail an investment of 32 million and Petronor, Nortegas, Repsol and the Basque Energy Entity (EVE) are collaborating. It is expected that within a year production, distribution and dispensing will be available so that this mobility will have the option of having hydrogenerators, both in the Abanto Park, as well as some more in Gipuzkoa and Alava.
Petronor, EVE and Enagas will also install a 10 MW electrolyzer in the Port of Bilbao, for the beginning of 2024, whose production will be destined to the synthetic fuels plant (efuels). A third installation, planned at the Petronor refinery for 2025, will have an electrolyzer of up to 100 MW to address its decarbonization process and the steel consumption of factories such as Celsa, Nervacero and Arcelor.
For its part, Nortegas is working on projects such as H2Sarea or the one planned in Boroa (Amorebieta), where, together with other partners, it plans to generate green hydrogen with an electrolyzer in different phases of operation.
CAF and Talgo trains
Iberdrola and Petronor are also competing in hydrogen train projects and have allied with CAF and Talgo, respectively. CAF and Iberdrola want to offer comprehensive sustainable mobility solutions, and testing of the train developed by CAF in Zaragoza, which will be powered by green hydrogen from Iberdrola’s Barcelona plant, is scheduled to begin in April.
Talgo, Petronor and the Provincial Council of Alava will collaborate in the industrial and technological development of green hydrogen. Petronor will develop the infrastructures for the supply of renewable hydrogen that can supply the industry. Talgo will carry out in its Ribabellosa plant the project of the ‘Vittal One’ train, commuter-regional and hydrogen-powered.
