Repsol and Sener to open the first electrolyzer factory in 2022 in the Basque Hydrogen Corridor. Repsol, through its subsidiary Petronor, and Sener engineering will start up the first electrolyzer factory in Spain at the end of 2022 with an investment of 120 million.
Both partners want to support the creation of a national industry around green hydrogen generation to achieve Europe’s decarbonisation targets by 2050.
The center will be located in Bizkaia. Of five possible sites, two of the alternatives have more possibilities. One of them is that of Portugalete, as Jorge Sendagorta, CEO of Sener, has advanced. In a first phase, the project will generate up to 60 direct jobs to later reach a hundred jobs.
The signing of the agreement between Petronor and Sener took place this morning at the refinery facilities in Muskiz (Bizkaia). With the signature of Emiliano López Atxurra, president of the Repsol investee, and Jorge Sendagorta.
It is one of the 34 projects of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor (BH2C) to consolidate an industry related to this energy generation in the Basque Country. The future plant will initially supply Petronor and then produce electrolyzers for customers around the world. The two partners will have the technological support of the Belgian group John Cockerill.
The project is open to investors from all sectors. Some financial groups have already expressed interest, according to López Atxurra.
The first electrolyzer of the future plant will have a unit capacity of 2 MW and will serve to cover the energy demand of the Abanto Technology Park (Bizkaia), which is under construction and also focused on green hydrogen.
The second electrolyzer, of 10 MW, will come into operation in 2024 to supply green hydrogen to the Repsol, Enagas and EVE synthetic fuels plant in the Port of Bilbao. By 2025 there will be a great technological leap with an electrolyzer of up to 100 MW to address the decarbonization of the Petronor refinery and respond to the demand for green hydrogen from other BH2C projects.
The investment of 120 million will be made with or without aid from the Next Generation community program, but will request the protection of these funds. As it gains more clients, Repsol and Sener will increase the initial investment.
Repsol and Sener will open the first electrolyzer factory in 2022, March 8, 2021
