More than a century ago, Jules Verne predicted (The Mysterious Island) that water would be the coal of the future. If he were alive, Verne would probably be as hopeful as he was disappointed. Water – actually, one of its components, hydrogen – is a great energy hope for the world. But a century and a quarter after his bet, hydrocarbons remain indispensable despite their impact on the environment. Building a new ecosystem is not easy, and even less so when there are doubts—from the Spanish Competition Authority, from the EU Court of Auditors—in the cost-profitability equation of hydrogen. But you have to bet and Spain has done it: it triples the six-year objectives and is the country that has presented the most projects – 46, out of 132 – to the European Hydrogen Bank, the EU tool to help the deployment of the new philosopher's stone of energy. All the large energy groups – Cepsa, Iberdrola, Enagás, Endesa, Naturgy and Repsol – are in the race. The update of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) recently approved by the Government is committed to green hydrogen, that produced with renewable energies to separate water molecules. It estimates an installed electrolysis power of up to 11 gigawatts (GW) by 2030. An enormous leap to achieve the total decarbonization of the economy in 2050. Only 4 GW were contemplated in the Hydrogen Roadmap. The figure matches the forecasts of the census of projects – 139 “serious”, of those validated in a real environment – carried out by the Spanish Hydrogen Association (AEH2). It also matches the most modest of the scenarios advanced by Enagás for renewable hydrogen: 13.4 GW of electrolysis and a national consumption of one million tons per year. The bet is clear, although, on a global scale, production and use of the “coal of the future” is going at a slow pace. The International Energy Agency estimates that global demand for hydrogen — 97 million tons in 2023 — only grew by 2.5% compared to the previous year. With an important detail: most of the world's demand is concentrated in the chemical and refining sectors; largely to mix hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons – called gray hydrogen – with fuels that have the sustainable label. The Government believes that green hydrogen represents a strategic opportunity for Spain. Enagás also believes this, convinced that the Peninsula can become a nerve center for the export of this technology within Europe. The great commitment to hydrogen materializes in the creation of the Iberian Hydrogen Corridor (H2Med), an infrastructure project that in 2030 should allow the export of green hydrogen from Spain to the rest of the continent. The H2Med, with Enagás as provisional manager of the hydrogen backbone network, contemplates a 248-kilometer hydroduct that will link Portugal and Spain through Zamora and a 450-kilometer maritime connection that will link Barcelona with the industrial hub of Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille (France), with a planned gross investment of 2,500 million. It is a great bite in which Europe accompanies. The EU production target is 10 million tons of green hydrogen per year in 2030, and Brussels has approved 1.2 billion from the EU recovery fund for Spanish production plants with a capacity equal to or greater than 100 megawatts. Aid to develop “hydrogen valleys” throughout the country.
Project in Puertollano
The ErasmoPower2X platform project in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) is a good example of the reality of the moment. ErasmoPower2X has the support, through Power 2X, of one of the largest pension funds in the world – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – to produce 55,000 tons of green hydrogen per year from a 650-capacity hydrogen plant MW and a 1.2 GW photovoltaic park in the town of Saceruela. The project, with an investment of 1,000 million, includes the construction, together with Enagás, of a 62-kilometer hydroduct. The CEO of ErasmoPower2X, Bas Dekker, believes that the objectives set out in the PNIEC are on the right track, despite the calls for investment prudence from Competition and the EU Court of Auditors, which demand a “realistic vision” for the development of hydrogen. “The objectives are not the Government alone, but a joint stock company of the Government and the market. We are focused on the development of green industry in Spain, but also in Europe; Our partners have projects in Northern Europe and I have confidence because there is a lot of money, a lot of capital that supports the projects.” Dekker is clear about the destiny of renewable hydrogen: industry and the decarbonization of products such as steel, plastics or fuels (e-fuels). This is not always the case. David Cebon, professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, believes that «although the Spanish Government has a good approach to the manufacture of green hydrogen, it is very important that hydrogen is used in the appropriate applications.» In his opinion, it should be used to “decarbonize the chemical uses of hydrogen, including the manufacture of fertilizers, glass, plastics, petrochemicals and perhaps steel.” It turns out that, with hydrogen, there is a lot of shooting in the air. Like Cebon, Fernando Ferrando, president of the Renewable Foundation, questions the plans to use green hydrogen. “It has to be a fuel that we use where electricity cannot reach.” Ferrando is critical of the infrastructure development proposed by Enagás and of the bases on which all the PNIEC forecasts rest. In his opinion, the Government's plan «does not relate the launch of hydrogen to demand, but only to supply, when 500,000 tons are being consumed in Spain.» [de hidrógeno al año]and when that proposal would mean 50 GW more of renewable energy from wind or photovoltaics.” His conclusion: “There is a mess in the conception of what the system should be.” Javier García Breva, an expert in energy policies, overlaps the deployment of the hydrogen network with the gas network —incompatible, Ferrando specifies; compatible in a high percentage, according to Enagás. García Breva agrees with Ferrando: investments in the hydrogen network “are considered like gas investments, without demand studies, without guaranteed financing and without clearing up doubts about their viability.” Time will give and take away reasons.