The old coal mine that supplied the As Pontes thermal plant, the crown jewel of the Galician electricity system for nearly 50 years, will serve as the community’s birthplace for the first sizable green hydrogen plant.
According to the promoter, Reganosa, green hydrogen is “a key energy vector for the decarbonization of energy and the transport sector, since it does not generate greenhouse gas emissions during the generation process or its consumption as fuel.”
Exactly the opposite of the preceding plant, which, while it was in operation, was the principal source of carbon dioxide in the entire nation. The H2Pole project intends to construct a 100 MW facility in two stages, with a projected 16,000 tonnes of annual production. That will consume a lot of electricity.
It will require “approximately 880-gigawatt hours (GWh) during the normal operation of the plant,” which is about the same consumption as the commercial sector in the Community at the moment. This consumption comes from the electrolysis process that will separate hydrogen from oxygen in the water molecules it takes from the lake located in the town of A Corua – a maximum of 438,000 cubic metres, 0.07% of the resources available in the area.
With the application for integrated environmental permission, the environmental impact study, and the declaration of a public utility, the electricity demand is one of the primary data gathered in the documents that have been available to the public since yesterday. After designating it a Strategic Industrial Project in September, the Xunta accords its priority. The deadline for submitting accusations or observations is 30 working days.
Concurrence with EDP
Reganosa mentions in the project that wind farms will supply all of the electricity needed by the eventual green hydrogen factory. Hence the arrangement was made with EDP Renovables’ Spanish affiliate. Although the project report raises the investment to almost 209 million euros: 76.9 million for the first phase and 131.8 million for the second, the announcement published yesterday in the Official Gazette of Galicia (DOG) anticipates a total budget for the material execution of 156.2 million euros.
The Green Umia methanol plant promoted by Iberdrola and Foresa in Caldas de Reis and the Julio Verne production plant designed in the Port of Vigo by a dozen Galician SMEs with the collaboration, among other organisations, of the CTAG, Anfaco, and Aclunaga is among the initiatives chosen by the government so far in the Renewable Energy, Renewable Hydrogen, and Storage section. European funds will infuse 24 million into the Reganosa and EDP plant.
There could very well be a third intermediate phase. Given the absence of modularization capacity of the electrolysers and the availability of financing programmes for the development of this new technology, the initial 50 MW might be produced “in a phased way,” with a capacity of 20 MW in the beginning. According to the company, “H2Pole’s ultimate goal is to expand the use of hydrogen in the region for the various end users (industrial, mobility, individuals, etc.) and to contribute to the decarbonization of the energy sector as well as potential social and economic development in a region that is particularly affected by industrial relocation.
Calendar and uses
The production will specifically go to high-pressure storage for distribution in tankers, the gas distribution lines (a hydro duct will be erected from the facilities to the node of the Reganosa network itself), and vehicle refuelling “as a future use.”
The hiring process will officially begin in May 2019. From September of this year and December 2025, the first phase would be built. The second would last from June 2029 to March 2027.
