Cepsa and Iberdrola have decided to go ahead with the plans to connect Spain with France by tube to transport hydrogen and resort to a faster route: by ship and to the Netherlands. To do this, they have just announced investments of 1,750 million euros and various alliances with companies to manufacture ammonia, the molecule that allows this peculiar journey of hydrogen to northern Europe.
Cepsa will spend 1,000 million euros to build in San Roque, near the port of Algeciras, the largest ammonia plant in southern Europe, in a project that will generate more than 3,000 jobs. The announcement was made yesterday, in an act attended by Felipe VI and the King of the Netherlands, Guillermo Alejandro, as well as the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera.
The day before, Iberdrola also committed, in the presence of the King of the Netherlands, an investment of 750 million euros to build another ammonia plant, in this case in the Port of Huelva, with which to output its green hydrogen production.
Ammonia is created by combining hydrogen with nitrogen and is transported in a liquid state by ship to a port terminal where, in an inverse process, it is regasified and injected into the hydrogen tubes, the hydroducts.
The production of the Cepsa and Iberdrola plants will arrive in Rotterdam, which aspires to become the great European center for the reception of hydrogen. Behind it is the aspiration of the Netherlands to create a great international hub that marks the pace of this new market.
The visit of the King of the Netherlands has been accompanied by the signing of agreements to facilitate the task for Spanish companies. The Norwegian company Yara Clean will distribute the hydrogen to Cepsa in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, while the Dutch company Gasunie will guarantee access to the transport network. Iberdrola has signed memoranda with the operator of the port of Rotterdam, CE Terminal, and with the operator of the Dutch hydrogen network Hynetwork.
The big unknown is whether the sea route and the Netherlands’ claims to become the great European gateway for hydrogen will eclipse the H2Med hydroduct between Spain and France. The tube, scheduled for 2030, is accompanied by a 7 billion Enagás plan to create a network of hydroducts in Spain. It could carry up to two million tons a year.
The Cepsa and Enagás projects add up to 850,000 tons, a volume capable of disrupting the national industry. However, the CEO of Cepsa, Maarten Wetselaar, insisted yesterday that “the maritime corridor and the H2Med are complementary”, and recognized that the trip by tube is cheaper, although it will take longer to become a reality. When this is the case, Cepsa will be able to resort to the hydroduct and dedicate the sea route to more distant countries, Japan included.
What the ship does have an advantage in is that transport is easier, requiring temperatures of -33 degrees Celsius, compared to -253 for the tube option. Ammonia is also considered a sustainable fuel with great potential for the naval sector.
For Cepsa, ammonia is one of the pieces that completes its hydrogen strategy. The company is developing the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley in the Algeciras area, where it plans to invest 3,000 million, of which 1,000 million will go to the new ammonia plant. The project will connect its refineries in San Roque and Huelva and will be complemented with another 2,000 million in renewables.
Cepsa will rely on EDP for the development of renewable projects in the area.
