Spain – The European Commission is financing part of the investment that Repsol and Enagás are going to allocate to the construction of a demo plant for the production of renewable hydrogen using photoelectrocatalysis technology at the Puertollano Industrial Complex. This technology is already operational at the pilot plant in the Repsol Technology Lab. The larger Puertollano plant could be operating by 2024.
The project to produce renewable hydrogen from photoelectrocatalysis, which Repsol and Enagás will scale up at their Puertollano Industrial Complex, has the support of the European Commission (EC). Following the approval of part of its financing through the European Innovation Fund.
This decision by the EC represents a major support for this innovative project that Repsol and Enagás are developing and which already has a pilot plant in operation and production at the Repsol Technology Lab research centre in Móstoles. With the approval of the financing for the project developed by the two companies, Repsol is moving forward with its plans to scale up this plant with the construction of a larger facility at the Puertollano Industrial Complex.
Enagás is promoting 55 specific projects throughout Spain in the fields of renewable gases and decarbonisation (34 green hydrogen projects and 21 biomethane projects) alongside more than 60 partners. In total, these projects could mobilise a joint investment of 6.3 billion euros. Many of these projects have been submitted to the different expressions of interest announced by the Spanish Government.
100 kilo a day
The Puertollano plant, which will be the only one of its kind and capacity in Europe, could be operational by 2024 and will produce around 100 kg of hydrogen per day from sunlight. The new facility, in addition to internal consumption, will supply the new hydrogenerators that Repsol plans to install nearby in the future, which will be used to power fuel cells for buses and trucks.
In addition, the 100% renewable oxygen also produced at the plant will be used in other facilities at the Repsol Industrial Complex in Puertollano, specifically in the sulphur recovery plant, thus advancing the decarbonisation of its industrial processes.
The plant will have a dual system, i.e. it will be able to generate up to 100 kg of hydrogen from sunlight per day and will increase its production of hydrogen by 450 kg per day from its connection to the electricity grid. In total, the overall capacity of the plant will be 200 tonnes of hydrogen per year.
