In mid-December 2021, the Government announced the PERTE for renewable energies, hydrogen, and storage (ERHA), which is “delayed” due to “the low level of commitment” to the green hydrogen program and “lower than projected” transfers to autonomous communities.
According to Llorente y Cuenta’s Next Generation EU Unit report and other business sources, they have not received a single penny of the money raised.
The Executive has opened five 400-million-euro aid lines. The Council of Ministers authorized 74 million euros in direct financing for green hydrogen value chain initiatives of community interest last week. H2B2, Sener, Nordex, and Iveco will invest 245 million in them.
The most significant gift arrived early last December. Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister, announced the Executive’s 250 million euro subsidy for 29 green hydrogen production projects. These projects, which would require 890 million euros, will add 487 megawatts (MW), 12% of Spain’s 2030 green hydrogen production goal of installing boosters for less than 4 gigawatts (GW).
Thus, the first two preliminary decisions of the PERTE ERHA help lines for green hydrogen, Pioneers or Unique and Value Chain, were issued. Final resolution is awaited after allegations about the result. Repsol, Iberdrola, Cepsa, Endesa, EDP, and Enagás, among others, are waiting for the money to be delivered, as they have in other European countries.
The expert thinks that 37.7% of the General State Administration (AGEdirectly )’s administered funds have reached the real economy. In this context, sector sources worry that money distribution will take a long time and that specific projects may be imperiled due to a lack of investment in a setting of energy crisis, in which many corporations have sold minority holdings in renewable projects to grow.
Spain relies on renewable hydrogen. It has over 15.5 GW of renewable hydrogen projects. There are 80 projects nationwide, mostly in the southern, Cantabrian, and Mediterranean beaches because they are more industrialized and have more opportunities to embrace this technology.
Sara Aagesen, the Secretary of State for Energy, believes the EU will provide more hydrogen money in the addendum to the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.
The rush for project development by the nation’s major energy shows interest in “green” hydrogen. Cepsa has proposed a 3,000-million-euro green hydrogen project in Andalusia. In its Campo de Gibraltar (Cádiz) and Palos de la Frontera (Cádiz) Energy Parks, the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley will commission two new plants with a capacity of 2 GW and a production of up to 300,000 tons of green hydrogen. Huelva). The project will also include a 2,000-million-euro investment in a 3 GW wind and solar energy portfolio to create green electricity.
Repsol leads the Shyne project, which will invest over 2,200 million euros to install 500 megawatts (MW) in 2025 and 2 GW in 2030. Iberdrola and Fertiberia have established a 1,800-million-euro initiative to create 800 MW of green hydrogen by 2027.
Endesa will establish green hydrogen generation facilities in As Pontes (Galicia) thanks to a scheme that encourages up to 100 MW of electrolyser supplied by wind projects with connection rights. Naturgy and Exolum’s “Win4H2” partnership will build 50 hydrogen plants nationwide.
Enagás will start building four renewable hydrogen interconnections this year, which will cost around 7,200 million euros. The Vía de la Plata hydrogen transport axis will link the first sample of interest. Spain might export two million tons per year in 2030, meeting 10% of European demand.
