Cepsa selects electrolyser suppliers for 400-MW green hydrogen facility in Spain

Thyssenkrupp nucera is the preferred supplier of a 300-megawatt (MW) electrolyzer for green hydrogen plant in Spain for Cepsa. Under an agreement announced at the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam, the Spanish energy company Cepsa has awarded the electrolyzer specialist a contract to provide a basic engineering design package.

Cespa has also selected Siemens Energy for the supply of 100 megawatts (MW) of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology for green hydrogen production. Both Thyssenkrupp nucera and Siemens Energy will be supplying electrolysers at the La Rábida Energy Park in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva), southern Spain.

The upcoming green hydrogen facility is the largest single on in southern Europe.

Thyssenkrupp nucera, one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-efficiency alkaline water electrolysis technology, will assist in the design and engineer of the facility through to the Final Investment Decision (FID). The project will use 15 of thyssenkrupp nucera’s standardized scalum electrolyzer units with a capacity of 20 MW each.

The first phase of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley entails a green hydrogen production plant at Cepsa’s La Rábida Energy Park in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) as part of their partnership with Fertiberia. With a production up to 47,000 tons green hydrogen per year, it will form part of Cepsa’s wider plans to develop 2 gigawatts of green hydrogen capacity in southern Spain by 2030.

“We are very pleased to be working with an innovative partner to create one of the largest hydrogen valleys in Europe and to contribute to Cepsa’s path to a gigawatt capacity,” says Dr. Werner Ponikwar, CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera.

Alexey Ustinov, Head of Sustainable Energy Systems at Siemens Energy, said, “The industry is ready, production capacity of electrolyzers is no longer the bottleneck in ramping up the hydrogen economy. Our Berlin multi-gigawatt electrolyzer factory is a good example of this. But we need a faster pace of funding approvals and fewer technocratic hurdles to ensure that such projects can make their decisive contribution to decarbonization across Europe.”

Cepsa is developing the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley as part of an ecosystem of European alliances, Europe’s largest green hydrogen hub to be developed. The company is one of the first movers in the creation of a green hydrogen economy in Spain, forging partnerships for a value chain that can scale up as demand grows.

“This is a decisive step in our Positive Motion strategy as we move to become a leading producer of green hydrogen developing vitally needed clean energy solutions for industry and heavy transport in Spain and across Europe. Our agreement with thyssenkrupp nucera brings together leading European businesses to create a European green hydrogen supply chain and accelerate decarbonization across the continent,” says Carlos Barrasa, Cepsa’s Executive Vice President of Commercial and Clean Energies.

The green electricity required for the production process is to come from solar and wind energy, which is plentiful in southern Spain, making it one of the most competitive places in Europe for green hydrogen production.