- It hopes that the european next generation funds reach between 30 and 40% of the 1,500 million investment planned until 2026
The Basque Hydrogen Corridor association foresees investments of around 200 million this year in different projects, including one in the Abanto Technology Park that will be underway at the beginning of 2023 after an investment of around 32 million and that includes , among other installations, an electrolyser and a hydro generator.
The development of these projects has been announced at a conference organized by the Basque Hydrogen Corridor Association, in which its president, José Ignacio Zudaire , has participated, among others, as well as representatives from Petronor Innovation, Irizar and Nortegas.
These companies are some of those that make up the Basque Hydrogen Corridor Association, made up of 78 organisations. Its objective is to create a hydrogen ecosystem, based in the Basque Country, and, to this end, as announced in its presentation, they intend to promote projects that will involve investments of 1,500 million until 2026.
In the conference held this Monday in Bilbao, the president of the association, José Ignacio Zudaire, pointed out that the bulk of the investments will be in the first years, which will correspond to production.
Specifically, it estimates that the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 will absorb 70% of the planned investment and, specifically, for this same year it foresees investments of around 200 million in different projects.
PROJECT IN THE ABANTO PARK
One of the investments is the hydrogen project at the Abanto Technology Park in Bizkaia, which will come into operation at the beginning of 2023 and includes a 2.5 MW electrolyser, a hydro generator, a hydro pipeline and a mobility park.
As he explained, there is a pipeline that connects the electrolyser with the park itself, about 2 kilometers long, and a mobility park will be installed in that park, which will include a hydrogen generator to supply hydrogen to both light and heavy vehicles and a plant logistics to take the hydrogen by truck to other hydrogen plants planned in the future. A recharging of slow-charging buses is also projected. The planned project in Abanto will involve a total investment of approximately 32 million.
Petronor, Nortegas, Repsol and EVE are collaborating on this mobility project , and it is expected that in a year production, distribution and dispensing will be available so that this mobility has the option of having hydrogen plants, both in the Abanto Technology Park and some more satellite that will be incorporated in the Basque Country -in Gipuzkoa and Álava-.
Petronor, EVE and Enagas are also planning to install a 10 MW electrolyser, located in the Port of Bilbao and scheduled for early 2024, the production of which will be destined for the synthetic fuels plant (efuels).
A third facility, planned for the Petronor refinery at the beginning of 2025, will have an electrolyser of up to 100 MW to deal with Petronor’s decarbonization process and nearby steel industry consumption, such as those of Celsa Nervacero or Arcelor.
For its part, Nortegás has specified other projects in which they are working, such as H2Sarea or the one planned in Boroa, where, together with other partners, it is proposing a green hydrogen generation project with an electrolyser in different phases. The company’s representative has indicated that, as electrolysis capacity and hydrogen become available, they will either build hydro-pipelines to main consumers or draw an artery around the Left Bank to bring hydrogen closer to industrial customers.
EUROPEAN FUNDS
In relation to the European Next Generation funds to which they aspire, Zudaire has estimated that they could reach around 30 or 40% of the planned investments and has specified that they have a “good positioning” because they are “collaborative” projects, which cover the entire the value chain and that seeks to develop industrial technology.
As he has stated, now we are at the “critical moment”, after two calls have been issued at the end of the year, so now it will be necessary to see if it works “with agility” and if they are resolved “within a reasonable period of time” because “Already in 2023 and 2024 there have to be projects working”.
On the other hand, Zudaire has pointed out that the strategy of creating a hydrogen ecosystem in the Basque Country has a local vision, so that the idea is to cover the Basque Country market, which implies an “enormous effort” but they do not rule out that in the future that Euskadi become an “exporting power” through the Port.
In his speech, Zudaire indicated that if he wants to reach the level of renewable energy to which he aspires, hydrogen is “necessary” and added that in sectors such as the steel industry, zero emissions cannot be achieved by 2050 if it is not counting on the hydrogen.
The president of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor association has stated, therefore, that “hydrogen is here to stay this time” and is “essential to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050”.
As he has pointed out, the objective is renewable hydrogen, called green because it has environmental advantages and, in addition, he believes that this commitment can help Spain to limit its dependence on hydrocarbon producers.
Zudaire has affirmed that renewable (green) hydrogen provides security of supply and a greater reduction of CO2, although his problem is the cost, since it is double that of gray hydrogen, although he considers that, as of 2030, he can begin to parity be reached.
The Nortegas Izaskun Gorostiaga representative also participated in the conference, highlighting some of the advantages of hydrogen compared to other decarbonisation alternatives, such as the fact that it can be stored long-term and in large quantities, in addition to the fact that it enables transport of energy without using the electricity grid and has no greenhouse gas emissions associated with its use.
Gorostiaga has stressed that it represents a “magnificent opportunity” to decarbonise sectors that are difficult to abate and, along with this, has stressed that the consumption of hydrogen in fuel cells does not present any emission of local pollutants.
The Nortegas representative added that, in order to achieve competitive hydrogen, “it is important that each part of the process be implemented where it is most efficient . In this sense, she pointed out the importance of regulating the different steps in the chain, since , depending on how it is defined, there will be “one cost or another.” He has also highlighted that the natural gas network can be a “platform” for the transport of hydrogen.
Finally, Izaskun Gorostiaga has asked the administrations for technological neutrality because decarbonization is not exclusively the electrification of the economy. He has also demanded agility in the processing of projects and support with grants and funds for their development.
The representatives of Petronor Innovation Miguel Palacio and Arturo Fernández have also participated, who have stressed that the age of hydrogen is not going to be the end of the rest of the energy vectors and have underlined the role that hydrogen will play in industrial decarbonisation.
For his part, the representative of Irizar Iñaki García pointed out that compliance with the new regulations will limit CO2 emissions and there will not be a single technology in mobility, but rather they will be “multiple and complementary”. In any case, he believes that hydrogen is going to play a fundamental role because it is a zero-emission solution throughout the cycle and has more autonomy and better recharging times than other solutions such as electric vehicles.
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