Andrés Guevara, president of BP Spain, announced yesterday an investment of 2,000 million euros to transform its Castelló de la Plana refinery into an integrated energy center that could create up to 5,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs.
These are the development plans of the Valencian Community Hydrogen Cluster (in its acronym, HyVal), presented at the Castellón plant in the El Serrallo industrial estate, with which it aspires to lead the production of green hydrogen from the Valencian Community.
The Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, also participated in the presentation, who stressed that the project is “a unique opportunity within the crisis that is being generated to develop new energy capacities.” Maroto pointed out that the Castellón hub “will be global” and gave it as an example of the leadership that “we have to exercise so that in 2030 we can say that we have achieved it”, referring to decarbonization.
Likewise, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, stressed that the project presented yesterday is a “symbolic leap” that strengthens the industry and that it will be “determinant for the Valencian economy.” In fact, the Generalitat Valenciana, through the 2023 Budgets, has laid the first stone by providing a help line of 3 million euros to improve energy efficiency in these BP Spain facilities.
HyVal – an initiative led that includes the participation of companies from various sectors in the region, public institutions and research and training centers – is a key proposal for decarbonization, especially for the ceramic industry, today in the spotlight for efforts due to the extra cost of energy derived from the war in Ukraine. The renewable hydrogen that will be produced in Castellón can be used in key industries such as this one that are difficult to decarbonise, but also by the chemical industry or heavy transport.
Guevara also explained the company’s forecasts to triple the production of biofuels at the refinery to “satisfy the growing demand for low-carbon fuels, such as SAF.” In fact, the Castellón plant is the first refinery in Spain to produce SAF for sale, as explained in the subsequent discussion by the vice president of the Castellón refinery, Francisco Quintana.
The first phase of the cluster will be the installation of an electrolysis plant with a minimum capacity of 200 MW, which in a first stage is expected to reach a production of 31,200 tons of green hydrogen per year.
In the second phase, by 2030, the capacity will be increased to 2 GW of net installed power and the renewable hydrogen produced will be able to supply both regional and national demand, in addition to positioning the Valencian Community as a region that exports green hydrogen to the rest of the Europe through the Mediterranean H2Med hydrogen corridor, as well as other derivatives.
