Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and Verbund Green Hydrogen have signed a deal to explore developing a green hydrogen plant in central Spain with a view to decarbonizing Europe's hard-to-abate sectors.

Both companies plan to analyze the feasibility of building one of Europe's largest green hydrogen production plants in central Spain.  The study will evaluate if green hydrogen produced at the plant has the potential to displace up to 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, equivalent of removing around 700,000 cars from the road every year.

The agreement was signed by Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, Masdar's Chief Green Hydrogen Officer and Hamead Ahrary, Managing Director of Verbund Green Hydrogen GmbH during COP28 in Expo City Dubai.

Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, Masdar's Chief Green Hydrogen Officer, said: "Masdar is delighted to be moving forward on this milestone project with our strategic partner, Verbund Green Hydrogen GmbH. As one of Europe's largest planned green hydrogen production plants, the project aims to produce green hydrogen to help decarbonize the continent's hard-to-abate industries while creating jobs and tapping into the region's enormous solar and wind potential. Our successful collaboration on this project paves the way for further development of green hydrogen and a vital pipeline linking centers of production with end-use markets.”

Michael Strugl, Chief Executive Officer, Verbund, emphasized the innovation and technology leadership in the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in Europe with this project: "We are very pleased that, within our cooperation with Masdar we can take the next step in the form of a Joint Study Agreement (JSA). The goal is to identify the subsequent way forward towards large-scale hydrogen production in Spain. Partnerships like this are essential to jointly ramp up the European hydrogen market to meet decarbonization goals."

Expected to be operational by the end of the decade, the planned green hydrogen plant will serve the industrial sector and has the potential to help decarbonize heavy transportation in Spain as well as in central Europe.