(Spain) – The joint venture “HyDeal España” has published details of its plans to produce and market green hydrogen on an industrial scale in Spain using solar power. The anchor investors include the steel group ArcelorMittal SA, the gas network operator Enagás SA, the fertilizer manufacturer Fertiberia SA and the project developer DH2 Energy.
The joint venture was founded in November 2021 after completing a one-year feasibility study. The consortium now wants to install solar power plants with a total output of 2030 gigawatts by 9,5, the output of which will drive electrolyzers with an output of 7,4 gigawatts. Production is scheduled to start in 2025.
Low carbon steel, ammonia and fertilizer
According to the information, electrolysers in northern Spain are supposed to supply an industrial complex in Asturias with the energy source. Over 20 years, 6,6 million tons of renewable hydrogen will be used to produce low-carbon steel, green ammonia, fertilizer and other products. HyDeal España also wants to substitute the equivalent of five percent of Spanish natural gas imports.
“HyDeal España is the first concrete implementation of the plan announced in February 2021 to produce green hydrogen for 1,50 euros per kilogram,” says Thierry Lepercq, board member of the joint venture. He hopes to close financing by summer to cover the costs of building solar farms, electrolyzers and the pipeline for the first phase of the project.
ArcelorMittal: Halve CO2 emissions in Spain
According to José Manuel Arias, CEO of ArcelorMittal Spain, the company wants to halve its CO2030 emissions in the country by 2. Across Europe, the steel company's carbon dioxide emissions should be reduced by 30 percent by then. ArcelorMittal According to its own information, it is investing one billion euros in the production of direct reduced iron ore (DRI) using green hydrogen at its plant in Gijón (Asturias), northern Spain, as well as in a new hybrid electric arc furnace. The iron is processed into emission-free flat steel at the steelworks further east in Sestao, near Bilbao, in the Basque region.
In Germany they should DRI systems in combination with an electric arc furnace dominate steel production in the Hamburg, Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt factories. Coke will initially be replaced by natural gas and later by hydrogen. Using green hydrogen, up to 3,5 million tons of steel could be produced with significantly fewer CO2 emissions, the company said in March last year.
Fertiberia relies on fertilizer made from green ammonia
According to its managing director Javier Goñi, Fertiberia wants to “invest in a state-of-the-art, highly flexible green ammonia plant to meet the needs of our Avilés fertilizer site”. Through HyDeal España, the group's four major industrial sites in Spain are involved in projects to replace ammonia from fossil fuels with green ammonia in their production processes.
Enagás wants to contribute his “comprehensive know-how in the area of energy network management and hydrogen technology”. “We are involved in more than 30 projects related to hydrogen, spread throughout the Spanish territory, and HyDeal España is one of the most important,” emphasizes Managing Director Marcelino Oreja.
Philippe Esposito, President of DH2 Energy, is convinced that “green hydrogen will make Spain and its industry a key player in the concert of the world's energy producers in the medium term”. The country's industry will be “positioned in a very favorable competitive environment”.
Photos
A little greener in the future: ArcelorMittal's rolling mill in Sestao. © ArcelorMittal
