The recent collaboration between Spanish energy company Naturgy and Australian firm Wildfire Energy promises to unlock the potential of hydrogen using cutting-edge gasification technology.
This new technology, known as Moving Injection Horizontal Gasification (MIHG), offers the prospect of producing high-quality green hydrogen while achieving negative net carbon emissions, all from processing a wide range of dry urban and agricultural waste.
Under this groundbreaking partnership, Wildfire Energy will establish a pilot plant in Brisbane, Australia, dedicated to the production of hydrogen that can be used in various applications, including mobility. Naturgy, on the other hand, will leverage its considerable experience in renewable gas projects to validate the MIHG process and explore its scalability at an industrial level. The ultimate goal is to assess the feasibility of implementing this technology in Spain and across Europe.
Naturgy’s Director of Innovation, Jesús Chapado, emphasizes the global challenge of decarbonization and combatting climate change. In this context, innovation becomes a powerful tool for creating clean energy solutions. The collaboration exemplifies Naturgy’s dedication to renewable gases, a sector in which the company intends to play a pivotal role.
Greg Perkins, Managing Director and Executive Director of Wildfire expresses enthusiasm about the partnership with Naturgy, a prominent player in the biomethane and hydrogen sectors across Europe. He highlights Wildfire’s intention to showcase its waste-to-hydrogen technology through additional pilot operations and a conceptual study for a debut project in Spain.
Naturgy’s investments in renewable generation underscore the company’s strategic commitment to solving the energy trilemma: contributing to decarbonization, ensuring a secure energy supply, and keeping energy affordable for all. Within this framework, Naturgy aims to assume a central role in the development of renewable gases, from producing and distributing biomethane in Spain in the short term to advancing hydrogen as a vital energy vector in the medium term.
Naturgy operates two of its biomethane production plants: one in A Coruña and another in Barcelona. The latter made history as the first facility in Spain to inject renewable gas from landfills into the grid. Additionally, Naturgy is preparing to launch a third plant in Vila-Sana (Lleida) soon and has initiated the construction of two others in Torrefarrera (Lleida) and Utiel (Valencia).
