The ‘Green Hydrogen Cantabria’ project has started looking for funding options and hopes to attract national and European funds to help it achieve its goal of constructing a green hydrogen generation plant in the region with a chain of storage, distribution, and application of this energy source in a variety of industries.
The Maritime Cluster of Cantabria (MarCA) is promoting the formation of the ‘Green Hydrogen Cantabria’ consortium, which has a budget of between 26.2 and 28.3 million euros and has already attracted 26 enterprises. The consortium was presented by the cluster’s president, Juan Luis Sánchez, at a ceremony held at the IHCantabria on Wednesday, which was attended by Galo Gutiérrez, the Government of Spain’s general director of Industry and SMEs, who announced that the central Administration will put A naval PERTE (Strategic Project for Recovery and Transformation) is underway. Also present were Javier López Marcano, Cantabria’s Minister of Innovation, Industry, Transport, and Commerce; Eva Novoa, general director of the SOERMAR Medium and Small Shipyard Technology Center; Alfonso Carneros, technical director of this foundation; and Sara Pérez Daz, representative of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDEA), who participated via videoconference.
According to MarCA’s president, this project provides the community with the chance to be technologically leading in the production and export of hydrogen in a lucrative manner. He remarked, “It is a chance to develop Cantabria into a reference location in the field of renewable energies and decarbonization.” For his part, the counselor, who stated that the initiative aims to use green hydrogen as a fuel in the community’s industrial fabric to contribute to environmental decarbonization, has expressed satisfaction with the fact that the project has a “clear Cantabrian component,” as 24 of the consortium’s 26 members are from Cantabria, as well as organizations from various sectors and areas of work that “strengthen” the project.
The Minister of Industry also praised its pioneering status, stating that it was “one of the first at the national level to propose the growth of the complete value chain among the many actors involved in hydrogen energy consumption.” The Government of Cantabria, through the Ministry of Industry, has been promoting the Regional Hydrogen Platform (PH2C) since March, inviting all stakeholders to join in order to create a “ecosystem” that will enable Cantabria to become “a pole of technological development” in all aspects of the renewable hydrogen value chain. So far, 53 organizations have signed up. 4:40 p.m. on November 10th, ‘Green Hidrógeno Cantabria’ starts looking for funding sources to build a green hydrogen plant.
The Cantabria hydrogen strategy aims to expand green hydrogen production and distribution, develop hydrogen refueling infrastructure, investigate other uses of hydrogen, including the R&D areas associated with these actions, promote supply chain development by focusing on the industrial opportunities that the sector can bring to the region’s businesses, and promote a greater understanding and acceptance of hydrogen. Cantabria is also a part of the European network of regions, which is pushed by the European platform on hydrogen and fuel cells (FCH JU). The area is part of a European network of 35 regions whose major goals are to create, assess, and research various European hydrogen initiatives.
The Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Transport, and Trade participate in the Network of European Regions for the development of projects based on hydrogen technology through Jorge Muyo, general director of Innovation, Technological Development, and Industrial Entrepreneurship. According to the general director of the SOERMAR Technological Center Foundation, the Green Hydrogen Cantabria project “is connected with all the plans, roadmaps, and policies in the world, European, national, and regional realms.” However, both the MarCA cluster and SOERMAR have stated that establishing a legal and regulatory framework that facilitates the widespread deployment of technology and its use as a fuel is “essential,” for which the Government of Cantabria’s collaboration is “essential,” as approved by the Minister of Industry. “We will always endeavor to be on the consortium’s side as partners, strategic friends, or a guardianship institution to secure the required finance,” said López Marcano.
