Proximity, businesses with large energy needs, high energy management capacity and stable long-term contracts. These are the four variables with which Iberdrola claims to have achieved the formula that makes green hydrogen a profitable reality and capable of meeting the aspirations of decarbonization and energy independence to which Europe aspires.
On them, the company chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán has developed the largest industrial green hydrogen factory in Europe. A complex located just 14 kilometers from the town of Puertollano (Ciudad Real) next to the fertilizer factory that Fertiberia has in the petrochemical complex of that town.
A closeness that Iberdrola points out as one of the strong points of the green hydrogen production model. “We are betting on always producing hydrogen next to the final consumer. It is essential to settle next to industries that are already consuming polluting gray hydrogen so that they sign up for the change to hydrogen produced by renewable energies and that the production of hydrogen is more and more profitable, ”explains Carolina Pérez, director of hydrogen development at Iberdrola.
The Spanish energy company has invested 150 million euros in the start-up of this complex that at its maximum capacity will be able to produce 3,000 tons of green hydrogen, now it produces 1,000 tons. After 15 months of works and almost a year as a pilot project, its actual start-up is expected in a few weeks. Based on the needs of the exclusive client for which it is designed, the multinational fertilizer Fertiberia.
It has the largest electrolyser in the world, which to the surprise of the visitor occupies little more than the space of the minibar in a hotel room. It is the heart of the hydrogen production process. The piece capable of causing the chemical reaction with which the water molecule (HO) is broken and releases hydrogen (H) on the one hand and oxygen (O) on the other.
“Although it may seem small, we are facing the largest electrolyser model in the world, with the capacity to produce 20 MW and which, due to the membrane modality and its 16 cells, adjusts very well to the energy fluctuations with which we manage the plant”, explains Javier Plaza de Agustín, Iberdrola’s director of green hydrogen exploitation on a visit to the complex attended by La Vanguardia.
The flexibility that Plaza refers to is one of the keys to the process that Iberdrola has designed. The current hydrogen plant is powered by energy obtained from a photovoltaic plant that extends in the surrounding area, also owned by Iberdrola. “It allows to produce 100 MW. Of these, we use only 35 MW to power the hydrogen plant and we do so with a direct connection from the photovoltaic plant to the grid”.
Added to this are batteries to store electricity in the same plant and 11 tanks with a capacity to store 6,000 kilos of hydrogen. The objective is to produce hydrogen when energy is cheap and use the stored one at night or when the price is skyrocketing.
“Energy management is vital so that your raw material (hydrogen) is cheaper. If you can play with when to start and stop production depending on when electricity is more or less cheap, your hydrogen will be cheaper than if you have a flat process in which if the price of electricity rises to 300 euros and you have to assume”, explains Javier Plaza.
The client, in this case Fertiberia, is outside of this management since its contract entitles it to a stable supply of 10% of the total hydrogen it needs for the production of fertilizers at the Puertollano plant. The rest is still produced with hydrogen from polluting fuel such as gas.
“The goal is to progress little by little and expand the supply as we verify that everything is progressing as planned,” explains Plaza. A bet that is possible thanks to the long-term commitment that both companies have signed. A 20-year contract. “Only in this way can we risk the million-dollar investments that this project entails,” acknowledges Plaza.
