Cepsa will invest $1 billion in Cádiz to build Europe’s largest green ammonia plant

With an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons, which can prevent the emission of three million tons of carbon dioxide, the facility is expected to be commissioned in 2027. This will also mean the creation of 3,300 jobs, including direct, indirect and induced.

Andalusia Green Hydrogen Valley, the largest green hydrogen project ever delivered in Europe – which will have a production capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW) – is CEPSA’s major strategic commitment, with an investment of 3,000 million euros – to another 2,000 million. It should be added to a group of renewable projects – this will mean the creation of 10,000 jobs and a production capacity of 300,000 tons of green hydrogen, which will prevent the emission of six million tons of carbon dioxide.

The company is currently developing basic engineering for projects and managing permits to start production in 2026 at its power complex in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) and in 2027 in San Roque (Cádiz).

Alliances

In addition to this investment, the group signed two cooperation agreements this Wednesday with the Norwegian company Yara Clean Ammonia and the Dutch company Gasunie for the supply of green ammonia and the distribution of hydrogen.

With these new alliances, the group is accelerating its leading role in the green hydrogen sea corridor between the north and south of the Old Continent through the ports of Algeciras and Rotterdam.

The commitment to this strategic corridor was attended by the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI, and the King of the Netherlands, Guillermo Alejandro, who participated on Wednesday in work with authorities from both countries and European businessmen in Algeciras (Cadiz). .

Along with Kings, Third Vice President and Minister for Environmental Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; Minister for Climate and Energy Policy of the Netherlands, Rob Gaet; the head of the Andalusian Junta, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonia; The head of the Port of Algeciras, Gerardo Landalos, and the director of the International Port of Rotterdam, Rene van der Plas, among other authorities, reports Ep.

Specifically, the aim of these agreements for the Spanish oil company is to promote the first green hydrogen sea corridor between southern and northern Europe, linking major ports on the continent, such as Rotterdam and Algeciras.

Thus, Cepsa adds to its strategy two alliances with expert groups in green hydrogen, such as Yara Clean Ammonia, leader in the green ammonia sector (derived from green hydrogen), and Gasunie, the Dutch leader in transportation and gas infrastructure, which connects the port of Rotterdam with industrial clusters Other European ones are in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Cepsa CEO Martin Wetselaar, who also attended the event, thanked the Kings of Spain and the Netherlands for their support of the business initiative that will make it possible to advance Europe’s common goal of ensuring autonomy of supply and achieving a carbon-neutral energy system.

“All Europeans are in the same boat, and we have to come together if we want to enjoy more accessible, clean energy to leave a better world for generations to come. Spain, and especially Andalusia, has a great opportunity to lead the energy transition, decarbonising industry and transportation here, but also to export sustainable energy to the rest of the continent.”

North-South corridor

This corridor between southern and northern Europe will contribute to the creation of a renewable energy supply chain to decarbonize industry and maritime transport, linking the Andalusian Valley of green hydrogen, which is Cepsa’s great commitment to its strategy to be a leading ‘player’ in the green hydrogen race, with Rotterdam, which has one of the highest Energy demand rates in Europe.

After reaching the Dutch port, the green hydrogen can be distributed through pipelines to reach a large number of industries located in the center and north of the continent.

And it is that the race for green hydrogen has accelerated due to the impact of the war in Ukraine after the Russian invasion which revealed the need for Europe to place an increase in its security of energy supplies in a mainstream position, as well as accelerate it. energy transmission.

In this, green hydrogen and its derivatives, such as green ammonia, emerged as a solution to achieve these goals of European countries.

In this way, Cepsa is advancing in the open struggle for the leadership of green hydrogen in the Spanish business sector. In this sense, Iberdrola has also announced the construction of a green ammonia plant in Huelva that will include an investment of 750 million euros, as well as, this Tuesday, an agreement to supply hydrogen to the Netherlands in the form of renewable ammonia to Terminal ACE. Port of Rotterdam.

future bet

And it is that the capabilities of the ACE station confirm the prospects that the supply of renewable hydrogen to northwestern Europe in the middle of this decade will be more than a reality, before the development of the H2Med gas pipeline, which will cross Portugal and Spain to connect with France and Germany, although it is not expected to start Operation of the pipeline until 2030.

Nor is it late in this struggle for Repsol’s leadership of renewable hydrogen, which has also taken advantage of these days of Spanish-Dutch courtship to sign an agreement, through Petronor – in its commitment to the Basque Hydrogen Corridor – to develop a European renewable hydrogen corridor along the sea route linking the ports of Bilbao and Amsterdam. .

In 2050, green hydrogen will account for a third of the fuel used in global road transport, 60% of marine transport, and will be critical to the ability to store energy from a renewable electric system. Green hydrogen is expected to contribute between 15% and 20% of the global energy mix by mid-century.