Enagás and DISA Promote the Creation of a Green Hydrogen Hub in the Canary Islands

The promoters of the project have shared the advantages of this initiative with the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing, Sebastián Franquis, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, José Manuel Valbuena, and the Deputy Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Olivera in a meeting held at the Presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands.

The project, in its first phase, requires an investment of 100 million euros and may reach 1,000 million in 2030, associated with the level of growth in the consumption of green hydrogen as a clean energy alternative. This initiative aims to obtain public co-financing, through Next Generation European funds.

Cluster Members

In the field of land transport, the three main public passenger transport companies of the islands -Global, Titsa, and Guaguas Municipales Las Palmas- participate, as well as Toyota Canarias and the Domingo Alonso Group for the development of the hydrogen-powered mobile fleet for individuals and companies.
In the maritime sector, the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Port Authority of Las Palmas, as well as the Astican, Boluda, and Navantia companies, have subscribed to this initiative.

In the tourism sector, the two provincial employers Ashotel and the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Las Palmas support the initiative, to which the Satocan Group has also joined.

All this with the collaboration of the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the University of La Laguna, and the National University of Ireland, Galway.

The initiative aims to continue bringing together the support of more companies and public and private entities to extract the maximum benefit and promote the growth of the use of hydrogen for decarbonization in the Canary Islands.

During the first phase of execution and start-up, the project would create approximately 200 new jobs.

The infrastructure planned for this first phase would have a capacity to produce about 1,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, the end-use of which would reduce CO2 emissions by 10,400 tons, an amount equivalent to the absorption capacity of a forest with an area similar to that of that of 600 soccer fields.

Green hydrogen

Hydrogen is the most abundant molecule in the universe, and on the planet, it is mixed with other elements such as water. It is an energy vector that allows reducing greenhouse gas emissions and favors the decarbonisation of multiple sectors.

The condition for hydrogen to be green is that it be produced from 100% renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, which will be used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. In the project, designed for the Canary Islands by DISA and Enagás, the water used comes from the sea and is also subjected to a desalination process with energy also from renewable sources.

The project foresees the production of green hydrogen in two plants, located in each of the capital islands.

Uses and applications of green hydrogen

The commercialization of green hydrogen, foreseen in this initiative, is integral and transversal to several sectors of activity since it will allow progress in the decarbonisation of energy, industry, mobility, and the services sector. In the field of transport, the project contemplates making investments in logistics systems and the opening of around 30 hydrogenerators in the Canary Islands before 2030, for direct supply to vehicles. Six of them are expected to be inaugurated in the first phase of execution.

Digitization

The project has been devised applying the criteria that define the new concept of sustainable industry, known as Industry 4.0., Towards which the European Union wants to advance throughout the community. It is about increasing the guarantees that guarantee the sustainable traceability of the entire production process, from the origin of the raw materials, through each stage of transformation and exchange, to the final use to which the customer intends the product, in this case, renewable hydrogen. For this, the Cluster-Hub will use, since its creation, digital tools, such as loT and Blockchain, in order to create a system of Certificates and Guarantees of Origin (CGDO) of the hydrogen produced.

Source: Enagas