Repsol has presented its plan to promote renewable hydrogen, which will allocate 2,549 million euros until 2030. The company will build electrolyzing plants in Bilbao, Cartagena and Tarragona and expects to have a power of 0.55 GW in 2025 and 1.9 GW
In 2030.
The first electrolyzer will be installed in the Petronor refinery, in Bilbao, and will have a capacity of 2.5 MW.
It is expected that the plant between operation in the second half of 2022. The electrolyzers of the refineries of Cartagena and Tarragona will have 100 MW capacity.
Tomás Malango, director of hydrogen of the firm, summarized the objective of Repsol at an event organized by the company in Madrid: bring “this decade” the competitiveness of the next one.
That is, to get the green hydrogen viable and profitable before the expected.
The company is currently the first producer and the first gas consumer in Spain, since it is mainly used in the refining process.
In addition, hydrogen is the most sustainable alternative for maritime transport, aviation or heavy vehicles, as it allows to meet the targets of decarbonization in sectors in which electric motors are not possible.
Currently, the cheapest hydrogen is known as gray, which is also the most polluting.
Producing a ton of this hydrogen involves generating about nine tons of CO2.
The low emission, on the other hand, takes blue color and is halfway, as it continues to assume emissions, but at a smaller scale (between two and three tons of CO2 for each of the good).
He gets storing or reusing this gas.
Repsol’s focus will, therefore, in renewable or green hydrogen, which is that which does not have associated CO2 emissions.
This can be achieved by electrolysis or substituting natural gas by a residue.
The company will opt for the first choice with the hope that the development of technology will reduce its cost, currently around three euros per kilo (in gray, for example, it is closer to 1.2 euros / kg
).
In the case of current infrastructures dedicated to hydrogen production, biogas or photoelectocatalysis pilot project will be used, which directly uses solar energy for this process.
On the other hand, Repsol announced an agreement with the EDP renewable producer to launch renewable hydrogen projects in the Iberian Peninsula.
For the moment, three projects have been recognized, which will be evaluated later, two in Spain and one in Portugal.
One of them – at EDP – intends to create a ‘hydrogen valley’ in Asturias, while another – which part of Repsol – seeks to install a large-scale electrolyser in what is known as the ‘Basque Hydrogen Runner’.
In Portugal it is expected to exploit the production of renewable hydrogen in Sines.
