Spain Kicks Off EU Green Hydrogen Race

Spain wants to become the European leader in hydrogen produced exclusively from renewable energy.

Photo Insert: Green hydrogen is created when renewable energy sources power an electrical current that runs through water, separating its hydrogen and oxygen molecules through electrolysis.

With plenty of sunshine and wind and wide-open countryside to host those power sources, Spain’s ambition is to export the gas to the rest of the continent, Jennifer O’Mahony reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Green hydrogen is created when renewable energy sources power an electrical current that runs through water, separating its hydrogen and oxygen molecules through electrolysis.

The result does not produce planet-warming carbon dioxide, but less than 0.1% of global hydrogen production is created this way.

Critics of Spain’s ambitions have warned there isn’t enough renewable energy capacity to produce green hydrogen that can replace natural gas and coal in the making of petrochemicals, steel, and agricultural products

But backers rely on the country’s plans for a head start to implant themselves in the nascent green hydrogen economy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated in December that Spain would account for half of Europe’s growth in dedicated renewable capacity for hydrogen production.

“The sense of urgency is that everyone seems to be racing to be the first to export green hydrogen,” said Alejandro Núñez-Jiménez, an expert in green hydrogen policy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

“Once you build energy infrastructure, it’s going to be there for decades. So it’s really a game where the first one might lock in the situation for many years… Spain and Portugal could produce a lot of green hydrogen, and demand in Central Europe may materialize, but the connection between supply and demand does not exist yet,” he said.

“Developing the infrastructure to transport that gas from the Iberian peninsula to central Europe must be a priority.”

Hydrogen, the lightest element in the periodic table, is difficult to store and transport and is highly flammable. For this reason, power company Iberdrola built its hydrogen plant right next to Fertiberia’s fertilizer factory in Puertollano, Spain to minimize leakage.

Once Iberdrola and its competitors have met Spain’s limited hydrogen needs for things like making beer, they will need to look outside its borders to keep growing.

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