The oil company is heading towards an alliance with Ric Energy to launch a 100 MW power project, a candidate for European funds
Repsol fuels the fever for green hydrogen and challenges Iberdrola with more alliances to establish itself as a supplier of this new clean fuel for large industry. The company that runs Josu Jon Imaz In line an alliance with Ric Energyone of the largest independent promoters of clean energy in Spain, to build a hydrogen production plant in the municipality of Puertollano (Ciudad Real), with which to supply industrial consumers in the region.
Repsol and Ric Energy have signed an agreement of intent, known as Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) In financial jargon, to launch a project with an initial capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) of hydrogen production expandable to 100 MW, according to sources in the sector told EL MUNDO.
The electrolysers of the aforementioned plant, a technology that uses electricity to break the water molecule and extract the hydrogen, will be fed by six photovoltaic parks with a total power of 255 MW.
Although the initiative, named HYDRIC, is in a preliminary phase and the two partners have not yet signed a final agreement, it has already been shortlisted as a candidate for one of the green hydrogen PERTEs and aspires to obtain €15 million of European Next Generation funds.
Repsol is determined to play a leading role in the entire hydrogen value chain, with investments that exceed €2.5 billion until 2030 and the objective of reaching the 1,900 MW of capacity at the beginning of the next decade. The fervor for hydrogen has not reached its ceiling in Spain. Just a few days ago, Cepsa announced an ambitious project, the ‘Andalusian Hydrogen Valley’, of 2,000 MW and 5,000 million euros to decarbonise its refineries and supply the industry with the new renewable gas.
Iberdrola was the first major energy company to set up shop in Puertollano. The electric utility announced a project a year ago to start up the largest green hydrogen plant for industrial use in Europe with the help of Fertiberia.
The municipality of Manchego is emerging as one of the hubs or ‘valleys’ of green hydrogen that will be developed in the national territory, where others stand out such as the Ebro Valley project or strategic enclaves such as Tarragona and specific areas of Andalusia or Galicia.
From Naturgy to Talgo
The madness that the new fuel has unleashed is being fanned by companies, the Government and the autonomous communities in equal parts. Nobody wants to be left out. The President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyenanticipated that Spain as a whole is going to be a hydrogen hub within Europe, during the H2MED corridor summit held this Friday in Alicante.
In this green party, Repsol is one of the companies that has woven one of the most powerful alliance networks. Last January, the group led the Shyne Mega Consortiumwhich aspires to mobilize more than €3.2 billion investment and in which some thirty companies such as Enags, Bosch, celsa, talgo Y Alsa. Since then, Repsol has moved quickly to find partners with which to shield its expansion plans in the new energy manna.
Repsol has focused on industrial transformation. Yesterday, the group communicated a new agreement with Naturgy and the Galician Reganosa to develop a hub of green hydrogen on the land of the old Meirama thermal power plant (A Corua), with the installation of an electrolysis plant that will have an initial power of 30 MW, scalable up to 200 MW in several phases.
The objective of this latest initiative is for the 100% green gas generated to be used for industrial use to replace the conventional (or gray) hydrogen that the Repsol refinery now uses. It will also be used in other industries, in the injection in the gas network to be mixed with natural gas and in mobility, detailed the new partners.
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