Cepsa ties up with with Enagas and Enersun to develop hydrogen plant in Spain

Oil company Cepsa  is to develop a green hydrogen plant in Huelva in southern Spain  with the renewable business of gas grid operator Enagas and green energy company Alter Enersun. The green hydrogen plant will connected to a solar power plant, within the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley.

The project is part of Cepsa’s plans to invest EUR3 billion in green hydrogen developments in Huelva and Algeciras, in one of the largest green hydrogen projects in Europe.

The new green hydrogen plant, whose electrolysis capacity will reach 200 MW, will be operational in 2026 and its production will be used to supply Cepsa’s own industrial consumption and will enable the manufacture of advanced biofuels. The photovoltaic facility will also have a capacity of 200 MW.

Alter Enersun will be in charge of developing the photovoltaic plant, which will be located on land belonging to the Port Authority of Huelva in the capital city, and Cepsa and Enagás Renovable will be responsible for the construction and commissioning of the hydrogen plant at the Cepsa Energy Park facilities in Palos de la Frontera.

The production of renewable energy close to the place where it will be consumed means an important optimization of the projects and a better use of the synergies between the companies.

Luis Iglesias, COO of Enagás Renovable, said the collaboration between the three companies “allows progress in the promotion of renewable gas projects in Spain, responding to the decarbonization needs of industry and the transport sector in their different modalities”.

José Luis Morlanes, CEO of Alter Enersun, highlighted that “we are going to build a 200 MW photovoltaic plant to generate green hydrogen that will take advantage of the sun’s energy to improve the environment. We are proud to participate in Cepsa’s Positive Motion strategy, which contributes to the energy transition and to achieving energy autonomy in Spain”.

Cepsa and Enagás Renovable have also signed a complementary agreement for the production and purchase of biomethane. Biomethane will be used to replace natural gas in various industrial processes, thus contributing to a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Biomethane, a renewable gas with characteristics similar to those of natural gas, is obtained through a biogas upgrading process. The latter is produced by anaerobic digestion of organic waste, a natural process that accelerates the production of this ecological gas with a high concentration of methane, thanks to the action of bacteria that live in the absence of oxygen.