Cepsa and Iberdrola have decided to go ahead with plans to connect Spain with France by pipe to transport hydrogen and resort to a faster route: by ship and bound for the Netherlands. For this reason, they have just announced investments for 1,750 million euros and several alliances with companies to manufacture ammonia, the molecule that allows this peculiar journey of hydrogen towards northern Europe.
Cepsa will dedicate 1,000 million euros to build in San Roque, near the port of Algeciras, the largest ammonia plant in southern Europe, a project that will generate more than 3,000 jobs. He made the announcement yesterday, in an event attended by Felipe VI and the King of Holland, Guillem Alexandre, as well as the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera.
A day earlier, Iberdrola committed, also in the presence of the King of Holland, an investment of 750 million euros to build another ammonia plant, in this case in the port of Huelva, with which it will start its production of green hydrogen
Ammonia is created by combining hydrogen with nitrogen and is transported in a liquid state by ship to a port terminal where, in a reverse 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 receiving hydrogen. Behind it is the aspiration of the Netherlands to create a large international hub that will mark the passage of this new market.
The visit of the King of Holland was accompanied by the signing of agreements to facilitate the work of Spanish companies. The Norwegian Yara Clean will distribute the hydrogen to Cepsa in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, while the Dutch Gasunie will guarantee access to the transport network. Iberdrola has signed memorandums with the operator of the port of Rotterdam, CE Terminal, and with the Dutch hydrogen network Hynetwork.
The great unknown is whether the maritime route and the claims of the Netherlands to become the great European gateway for hydrogen will eclipse the H2Med hydroduct between Spain and France. The pipe, planned for 2030, is accompanied by a 7,000 million Enagás plan to create a network of hydroducts in Spain. It could transport up to two million tons a year.
However, the CEO of Cepsa, Maarten Wetselaar, insisted yesterday that “the maritime corridor and the H2Med are complementary”, and he acknowledged that the tube journey is cheaper, but will take longer to become a reality. When this situation is reached, Cepsa will be able to resort to the hydroduct and dedicate the maritime route to more distant countries, including Japan.
What does have the advantage of the boat is that the transport is simpler, since it requires 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 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 San Roque and Huelva refineries and will be complemented with another 2,000 million in renewables.
Cepsa will rely on EDP to develop renewable projects in the area.
