ACCIONA and Enagás launch green hydrogen project in Mallorca

• The partners have completed the purchase from Hydrogenics of an electrolyser that can produce 330 tons of green hydrogen per year
• IDAE and Cemex are also partners in the electrolysis project, which will feed the island's renewable hydrogen ecosystem
• Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2021 and the plant is expected to be operational by the end of the year

ACCIONA and Enagás are moving forward with the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca industrial project, having acquired an electrolyser, the key component of the electrolysis plant that the partners plan to build and operate in order to produce renewable hydrogen to feed a pilot hydrogen ecosystem on the island of Mallorca. The other partners in the project are Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía (IDAE), an agency of the Spanish government, and Cemex, which owns the site.

The electrolyser will be supplied by Hydrogenics, which is part of the Cummins Group. Hydrogenics is the world leader in the design and manufacture of electrolysers and fuel cells. The electrolyser will be capable of producing over 330 tons of green hydrogen per year, which will be used primarily as a direct energy source and, where this is not possible, will be injected into the natural gas grid to reduce the CO₂  emissions produced by users of the latter fuel.

ACCIONA, Enagás, IDAE and Cemex have adopted an ambitious timetable for the project with a view to the plant becoming operational in 2021. The developers are currently obtaining the permits required to build the electrolysis plant and the two photovoltaic plants that will drive it, to be located in Petra and Lloseta, as well as a green hydrogen filling station in Palma de Mallorca. Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2021.

"The Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project will drive a panoply of use cases for green hydrogen geared to decarbonising the Balearic Islands. This industrial project reflects ACCIONA's commitment to truly ground-breaking initiatives in the move towards effective, innovative decarbonisation," said Rafael Mateo, CEO of ACCIONA's Energy division.

Marcelino Oreja, CEO of Enagás, said that, "Enagás, as coordinator of the Green Hysland European project, working with its partners, will drive the development of a green hydrogen ecosystem in Mallorca that can be replicated to other territories. Renewable gases are a key vector in the process of decarbonisation and a fair energy transition."

An emblematic project in Europe's Hydrogen Roadmap

This industrial project is the core of Green Hysland, a project to which the European Union's Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) has pledged €10 million in funding to support deployment of the infrastructure to make the Mallorca renewable hydrogen ecosystem a reality.

Green hydrogen will have multiple applications on the island, such as fuelling buses and rental cars powered by fuel cells via a hydrogen filling station to be built for this purpose, generating heat and power for commercial and public buildings, and as an ancillary energy source for ferries and port operations.

Additionally, some of this green hydrogen will be injected into the island's gas grid, owned by Redexis, under a Guarantee of Origin system developed by ACCIONA based on blockchain, enabling gas users to reduce their emissions.

Additionally, with the support of Redexis, some of this green hydrogen will be injected into the island's gas grid under a Guarantee of Origin system developed by ACCIONA based on blockchain, which will reduce emissions from gas supply.

The European Union's Green Hysland initiative has earmarked about €50 million for renewable power generation, green hydrogen production and end user equipment.

This project is also part of “Hydrogen Roadmap: a commitment to renewable hydrogen” adopted by the Spanish government in October 2020 with the goal of putting Spain to the forefront in the technology of producing and using green hydrogen, attaining 4 GW of production capacity by 2030, and mobilising an estimated total investment of €8.9 billion.