The oil company is heading its transformation process with an ambitious 2,000 MW capacity project to decarbonise its refineries with the new renewable gas
cepsa dresses in green wrapped by the Government. The energy company announced this Thursday a megaproject called the Andalusian Hydrogen Valley, which includes the development of two production plants for this clean fuel. The company plans to invest 5,000 million euros in six years to launch this hub of hydrogen, which represents around 62% of the maximum investment planned by the oil company for the next decade. The President of the Executive, Pedro Sanchezhas accompanied the CEO of Cepsa, Maarten Wetselaarfor sponsor energy’s largest renewable offensive to date.
With this initiative, Cepsa is embarking on its renewable transformation and gaining a foothold in the hydrogen race, in which it competes with giants such as Repsol, Iberdrola either triggerwhich have also announced multimillion-dollar investments in the heat of the fever that this energy vector has unleashed, a clean fuel that is still not profitable.
Cepsa’s latest strategic plan, dubbed ‘Positive motion’, estimates investments of between 7,000 and 8,000 million euros for the next 10 years, the 60% linked to the renewable business. The project aspires to get public fundsinside and outside the Next Generation aid program.
Ask for tax incentives
Wetselaar took advantage of this Thursday’s meeting to ask the Prime Minister for “an incentive plan” for green investments and prudence in tax reforms that affect the sectorin clear allusion to tax of the Executive to the income of the giants of the energy business.
The new project consists of the construction of two new hydrogen generation plants with a capacity of 2 GW (2,000 MW) to produce up 300,000 tons of this renewable gas in the company’s energy enclaves in Campo de Gibraltar (Cádiz) and Palos de la Frontera (Huelva).
Cepsa will take advantage of the hydrogen generated to decarbonize your refineries in the region, as well as to produce green ammonia and methanol. The objective is to redirect the activity of the company’s energy centers to the production of advanced biofuels for aviation (SAF) and heavy sea and land transport.
According to company estimates, in short, the project will have the capacity to generate 10,000 jobs, between direct, indirect and induced. The presentation of the initiative was attended by Pedro Sánchez himself, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla,. Other personalities attended the event, such as the former president of Andalusia, Susana Da, Gerardo Landaluce and Pilar Miranda, Presidents of the Ports of Algeciras and Huelva, and Nico Van DoorenDirector of New Business at the Port of Rotterdam.
If it comes to fruition, the 2 GW of generation of this renewable fuel projected by the company, one for each plant, would mean 50% of the green hydrogen production planned by the Government for all of Spain in 2030.
This is a milestone at a national and European level, which Cepsa has announced with the backing of the Government and the Junta de Andaluca. The initiative is also a milestone in the green transformation of the oil company which, until now, had remained at the tail of its peers in terms of renewable production. It is, in any case, a long-term project that will be developed in several phases.
The Huelva plant will be located next to the La Rúbida Energy Park and will start up in 2026, reaching its maximum capacity in 2028; The Cádiz facility will be in the San Roque Energy Park and will be operational in 2027, according to the calendar managed by the group. From Cepsa they have specified that they are already working on the engineering and administrative processing of the project aimed at creating the “Andalusian valley of green hydrogen”.
To generate the renewable electricity needed to produce this green hydrogen, the company will need to develop a portfolio of energy projects. 3,000 MW of wind and solar energy, which will mean 2,000 million of the total investment. They will not be enough to power all the machinery in this valley of hydrogen. The company will also collaborate with clean energy producers already established in Andalusia and the rest of Spain.
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