- Spain aims to become a major producer of green hydrogen
- The aim is to use hydrogen in the country's decarbonized industry, for which Spain needs funding
Spain aims to become a major producer of green hydrogen
The European Union has approved a €1.2 billion grant to develop Spain's green hydrogen industry. The country's clear ambition is to become a major producer of green hydrogen, which is extracted using renewable electricity. Under the program, which will be financed by Madrid's share of the EU's recovery fund, plants with a capacity of 100 megawatts or more can apply for state support to develop hydrogen valleys across the country, Euronews reports.
Spain, for its part, has untapped potential to increase its solar and wind power generation capacity and to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, which can be used directly as an energy source or as a feedstock for synthetic liquid fuels.
It underlines that the EU allows derogations from the strict prohibition of national aid to domestic industry in cases where it pursues key EU policy objectives, in this case, the transition to a zero-carbon economy, and does not unduly distort the single market.
Margrethe Vestager, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for competition policy, said that the support for Spain will accelerate the development of green hydrogen production facilities in line with the EU's strategic objectives.
"This scheme will also help Spain to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels while minimizing any potential distortion of competition," said Vestager.
The draft National Energy and Climate Plan 2030, which all EU Member States had to prepare, notes that Spain's target of 11 gigawatts of electrolyzer capacity for green hydrogen production is the most ambitious in Europe. The EU's current target is to produce 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.
The aim is to use hydrogen in the country's decarbonized industry, for which Spain needs funding
The government will allocate €1.55 billion to developing the green hydrogen production sector under a strategic plan funded by European funds and hopes to attract €2.8 billion in private investment. The aim is to focus on production and develop the entire value chain for hydrogen use in the country's decarbonized industry. Some of it will also be exported to other European countries through the H2Med pipeline, which aims to connect the Iberian Peninsula's hydrogen networks with northwest Europe.
Spain's high renewable energy production could make it one of Europe's centers in this field. This was highlighted by Laureano Álvarez, an expert in strategic energy advice, at a recent forum organized by the news portal El Confidencial.
"There are two very clear production centers. The Iberian Peninsula is one of them, and the Nordic countries are the other. We now have a great opportunity to re-industrialise Spain using green hydrogen", he stressed.
"Oliverio Álvarez, Deloitte Spain partner in charge of the energy and resources sector, says that to achieve its ambitious goals, Spain needs financing and a value chain that provides equipment in sufficient quantities, on the right timescales, and at a reasonable price, as well as secure, sustainable and affordable energy, labor, regulation, certification and, above all, demand.
According to Lema, Spain expects green hydrogen production to be one of the main drivers for decarbonization.
Based on ELTA reports
