(Bilbao, Madrid / Spain) – The Spanish energy company Iberdrola SA has reached a loan agreement worth six million euros with the Spanish bank ICO (Instituto de Crédito Oficial). This will finance Spain's first public green hydrogen filling station, to be built and operated by Iberdrola to supply the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) bus fleet with renewable fuel. In addition to the loan, there is a grant of 3,7 million euros for this project as part of the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility initiative. The Spanish Ministry of Transport also supports the project.
The filling station will be built on an area of 5.000 square meters in the free trade zone of Barcelona and will be expanded into a hub for green hydrogen in Catalonia. Iberdrola and TMB have signed a ten-year agreement. The green hydrogen supply agreement can be expanded to meet the demand of other public and private vehicle fleets in the area. TMB is the main public transport operator in Barcelona. It was created in 2004 through the merger of the two companies Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona and Transporte de Barcelona.
53 green hydrogen projects in planning
Iberdrola is currently building Europe's largest green hydrogen plant in Puertollano (Ciudad Real), which will help decarbonize the fertilizer factory fertiberia should contribute. There is also an agreement with the US manufacturer of diesel and gas engines Cummins Inc. to build Spain's largest electrolyzer plants for the production of green hydrogen in Castile-La Mancha.
Iberdrola has submitted 53 green hydrogen-related projects to the EU Next Generation program through cooperation agreements with various corporations, which will trigger investments worth 2,5 billion euros. Annual production is 60.000 tons.
ICO financed sustainable projects with 2020 billion euros in 2,7
The loan agreement is the fifth between Iberdrola and ICO, whose tasks include financing investment projects of Spanish companies. The state investment bank is particularly required to provide financing in the area of renewable energies and sustainable infrastructure. In 2020, it financed projects and plans related to sustainable development worth 2,76 billion euros.
Photos
In September 2020, following a tender, TMB awarded the Portuguese manufacturer of fuel cell buses Caetano, which is part of Toyota, the contract to deliver eight vehicles at a unit price of 6,4 million euros. This makes Barcelona the first municipality in Spain to use hydrogen-powered vehicles for local public transport. © Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB)
