Iberdola has enlisted the aid of Basque businesses Elecnor and Consonni to help decarbonize the industrial fertiliser manufacture process at the Fertiberia factory in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, which is currently Europe’s largest green hydrogen project.
These advancements will also help it achieve one of its goals: developing a green hydrogen value chain to position our country as a European technological and industrial leader in a critical energy vector for electrifying industry and heavy transportation.
Elecnor will be in charge of the Puertollano plant’s electrical assembly and will provide equipment such as electrical panels and cabinets, support, conduits, and lights. Construcciones Electromecánicas Consonni’s Bilbao plant will produce medium-voltage equipment. The latter company is collaborating with Iberdrola on another green hydrogen project to provide a containerized low-voltage electrical substation for the first-ever public hydrogen generation plan in the Zona Franca de Barcelona, which will supply green hydrogen to buses operated by Transportes Municipales de Barcelona (TMB).
After a €150 million investment, the green hydrogen plant in Puertollano is set to open in the same year, becoming Europe’s largest industrial green hydrogen complex to date, producing hydrogen using 20 MW electrolysis systems, as well as a 100 MW photovoltaic facility and an ion-lithium battery system (20 MWh).
Iberdrola was impressed by Elecnor’s ability to engineer, manufacture, supply, and install electrical equipment, as well as Consonni’s ability to produce medium and low-voltage equipment, and the specialist knowledge of both companies’ human resources to enable them to complete these projects, during the tender process. These contracts were issued as part of Iberdrola’s strategy to form partnerships with businesses that support environmental, social, and governance values (ESG).
Green hydrogen offers enormous promise as a source of energy for powering industrial operations and, in particular, heavy transportation. In Spain and the European Union, it has also been recognised as a crucial solution for decarbonizing the economy and building innovative, high-value industrial chains.
Iberdrola has committed to Europe’s most ambitious green hydrogen project, developing 800 MW of green hydrogen in four phases at plants in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) and Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) by 2027, in conjunction with Fertiberia.
Our country will become an industry leader in the green hydrogen industry and the first to produce 100% ammonia for completely green fertilisers as a result of this effort, which will cost 1.8 billion euros.
Iberdrola has submitted 53 green hydrogen projects to the Next General EU Programme, which will mobilize 2.5 billion euros in investments to produce an annual output of 60,000 tons. The plant will produce the equivalent of 20% of all national green hydrogen (with a capacity of 4 GW by 2030) and will ensure that about 25% of the green hydrogen currently consumed in Spain is CO2-free.
This and other hydrogen projects being undertaken by Iberdrola are expected to boost economic growth and employment by assisting in the creation of roughly 4,000 qualified jobs, 500 of which will be in local suppliers, according to the business.
