Spain – MITECO allocates 1,214 million to seven future renewable hydrogen clusters
Sara Aagesen said:
The projects will create around 9,000 direct jobs and around 11,000 indirect jobs during construction and operation; in addition, 90% of the electrolysers are made in Europe
According to the provisional resolution proposal, the seven beneficiary projects of the H2 Valles program will be located in Aragon, Andalusia, Castile and Leon, Catalonia and Galicia.
Together, these new developments will add 2,278 MW of electrolysis power in 11 facilities and will mobilize investments close to 5 billion euros.
Clusters or valleys are essential for the production and use of green hydrogen in large industrial hubs and integrating all stages of the value chain in clustered enclaves
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published the provisional resolution proposal for the call for aid for the creation of large valleys or renewable hydrogen clusters, which can be consulted here . It allocates a total of 1,214 million euros of NextGenEU funds to seven projects located in Aragón, Andalucía, Castilla y León, Cataluña and Galicia. This was announced this morning by Vice President Sara Aagesen, who highlighted that “It is a call for strategic relevance that advances the decarbonisation agenda. Ecosystems will be generated that consolidate an energy of the future, which is here to stay. The seven projects will create around 9,000 direct jobs and around 11,000 indirect jobs during construction and operation; in addition, 90% of the electrolysers are of European manufacture”.
The seven beneficiaries of the H2 Valles programme are proposing developments with a total electrolysis capacity of 2,278 MW for the production of renewable hydrogen in 11 different facilities, since the terms of the call allow more than one site per cluster if the distance between them is less than 100 km. Together, they will mobilise investments worth 4,907 million. The proposal is still subject to technical objections that may lead to changes in the list of selected projects, according to the final score obtained by each project.
ARAGON AND ANDALUCIA
By autonomous community, Aragon, with two valley projects –one of them shared with Catalonia– receives the largest amount of aid, 384 million. It is followed by Andalusia (304 million), Castile and Leon (259 million), Galicia (170 million) and Catalonia (98 million). Three of the files correspond to locations in municipalities with demographic challenges: Andorra (Teruel), Cubillos del Sil and La Robla, both in the province of Leon.
Given that the budget initially available, €1.2 billion of funds included in the RePowerEU Addendum to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), could be increased by up to an additional 10% to complete the aid of the last awarded file, the final amount of the grants would amount to €1.214 billion.
ELECTROLYSIS AND DERIVED FUELS
The seven projects in the provisional resolution proposal have an electrolysis capacity for the production of renewable hydrogen that far exceeds the minimum threshold of 100 MW set in the call for proposals . All of them also guarantee the required purchase commitments of at least 60% of that production by various industrial consumers ( offtakers ).
The highest-rated projects also include connected renewable generation facilities and undertake additional synthesis, storage and/or transport processes for green fuels derived from renewable hydrogen, such as SAF for aviation, e-methanol or ammonia. As regards electrolysis technology, the promoters of the provisionally selected projects have predominantly opted for alkaline technology.
In addition to technical soundness and financial solvency, the evaluation of merits also took into account social and environmental criteria ranging from job creation, local economic development, emission reduction, gender equality, and local training, among others.
CLUSTERED VALUE CHAIN
The objective of this line of incentives managed by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), attached to MITECO, is to promote the large-scale production and consumption of renewable hydrogen and its derived fuels to boost the full integration of this vector in the Spanish energy mix and accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions from large sectors of our industry and heavy transport.
Green hydrogen clusters or valleys are an essential element in bringing together multiple stages of the hydrogen value chain in clustered locations ; from production and storage to distribution and consumption. This takes advantage of economies of scale, the possible diversity of consumers in the same area and the multiplier effect that this may have.
INTEGRATED NATIONAL ENERGY AND CLIMATE PLAN
The promotion of the creation of renewable hydrogen clusters, linked to component 31 of the PRTR and the Commission’s RePowerEU mechanism, is provided for in the PERTE EHRA and is considered crucial to achieving the objectives set out in the Renewable Hydrogen Roadmap (4 GW in 2030) and in the revision of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), which foresees 12 GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030.
The line of incentives for renewable hydrogen valleys is preceded by the high level of interest and participation in the previous calls for H2 Pioneers, H2 Value Chain and three Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI Hy2Tech, Hy2Use and Hy2Move). As a result of these initiatives, more than a hundred developments are underway throughout Spain; both experimental proposals to generate knowledge about renewable hydrogen, as well as applications in mobility and transport, or large electrolysers for the generation of this energy vector.
With more than 3.1 billion euros, the commitment to green hydrogen has meant that, in just two years, Spain is already in a position to launch aid that multiplies by several orders of magnitude the renewable hydrogen production capacity of the first funded projects.
As stated in the Roadmap, Spain currently consumes more than 500,000 tons of so-called “grey hydrogen” of fossil origin per year. There is therefore enormous potential for the decarbonisation of the industry and, at the same time, it allows replacing other fossil fuels or other raw materials with renewable hydrogen.
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Spain – MITECO allocates 1,214 million to seven future renewable hydrogen clusters, source
