Spain aspires to be at the forefront of the upcoming green hydrogen energy revolution. The government authorized a “megaproject” to achieve it using European funding.
The Executive has approved the strategic initiative for the recovery and economic transformation of renewable energy, renewable hydrogen, and storage (PERTE), which aims to raise 16.3 billion euros (6.9 billion in public funds and 9.5 billion in private sector investments).
Hydrogen is the project’s most resource-intensive component, with 1,555 million in public money and another 2,800 million in private investment aimed at promoting an emission-free energy source that promises to be critical in the energy transition. By 2030, Spain wants to reach a green hydrogen power capacity of 4 gigawatts (GW), which would be 10% of the total objective set by the European Union in its hydrogen plan for the continent.
Enagás, Acciona, Redexis, and Cemex have completed the commissioning of the first plant in Mallorca that will cover the entire chain of green hydrogen: production of hydrogen using renewable energy, transportation and distribution of gas, and supply to end customers for effective use. The businesses expect to start manufacturing in the next days and have the factory up and running in the first quarter of 2022.
The facility is located on the grounds of a Cemex cement factory in the town of Lloseta, in the heart of Mallorca. The hydrogen generation process will take place there, with two photovoltaic solar power plants located near Lloseta and Petra, respectively, powering the facilities. The objective is to create 330 tons of green hydrogen each year, or about one ton per day. The total investment for the project’s start-up will be 50 million euros.
The hydrogen is already being supplied by the consortium under fixed contracts. Enagás and Acciona have agreed to distribute hydrogen to hotels in the Iberostar group in Mallorca, which will lower their natural gas usage by up to 5% as a result of the hydrogen injection into the network. It will also feed hydrogen to five buses of Palma’s public transportation business, for which a hydropower plant will be erected in the Mallorcan city, as well as the Port of Palma’s facilities and the Lloseta City Council’s public buildings. The consortium intends to diversify its client base by adding other sectors and, ultimately, household users via the gas network.
The hydrogen generation facility is at the heart of the European Green Hysland initiative, which is the first in southern Europe to obtain EU funding to create a fully sustainable hydrogen ecosystem. The project has received ten million euros in European funding, however they are prior and separate help to the Recovery Plan, which was provided through the FCH JU (Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking).
Green Hysland is made up of 30 partners from eleven countries, including nine from the European Union, as well as Chile and Morocco, and is led by Enagás. The Spanish government has also endorsed and backed the program through the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE).
Business behemoths such as Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy, Repsol, and Cepsa are vying for a piece of the green hydrogen pie (which does not generate greenhouse gases because it is created with renewable energy) and have multibillion-dollar plans to set up production units in Spain. Some of these projects might benefit from European money distributed through PERTE for renewables, hydrogen, and storage.
The Executive also intends to subsidize hydrogen applications in various areas, such as heavy transportation (ships, railways, trucks, and buses) and large-scale electrolyzer projects, promoting renewable hydrogen clusters linked to current consumption points of hydrogen of fossil origin, with the new mega-project of the Recovery Plan.
