Naturgy has presented the Spanish Government with a project to build 38 hydrogen fuel stations at a national level with the aim of providing a hydrogen-refueling service in the urban-to-interurban environment and thereby boosting sustainable mobility in the Iberian Peninsula.
The total infrastructure to be developed during the second stage will come to 120 hydrogen fuel stations.
The initiative presents two hydrogen-fuel station models during its first stage: 20 hydrogen fuel stations with on-site hydrogen production at the facility through an electrolyser or an external plant; and 18 hydrogen fuel stations without on-site production. They will all supply hydrogen to vehicles through a pump adapted to their needs.
The network of 38 hydrogen fuel stations would be distributed all over the national territory, making the most of the company’s hydrogen-production centres located in La Robla, Meirama, Valencia, Palos and Alcázar de San Juan.
Of these 38 stations, six would be located in Andalusia; five in Castilla-la Mancha; four in Castilla y León and in Catalonia; three in the Autonomous Community of Madrid; two in Galicia, the Autonomous Community of Valencia, the Autonomous Communities of Murcia, Aragón, Navarra and Extremadura; and one in the Balearic Islands, Cantabria and the Basque Country.
The company estimates it will have the 38 hydrogen fuel stations in service before 2025, although 80% of them will be put into operation between 2023 and 2024. The hydrogen fuel stations have been sized on the basis of a potential annual demand of some 75,500 kg of hydrogen, the equivalent of refuelling 13 buses or 100 light vehicles. In addition, an assessment will then be made on whether the network of hydrogen fuel stations could supply transport on the national railway network.
As for the environment, the use of the new technologies set out under this project involves a reduction in emissions compared to conventional technologies. The company calculates a primary, non-renewable energy saving of 124 GWh/year and a reduction in emissions of over 30,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
The deployment of this network of hydrogen fuel stations represents an innovation as it will enable sustainable-mobility development needs to be attended to and the European network of hydrogen refueling stations to be increased. It will also validate a new infrastructure model that will contribute synergies with the network of natural gas stations the company has already been operating in Europe.
