Plug Power Inc. and ACCIONA Energía have presented to the Government of Navarra (Spain) their Valle H2V Navarra joint project to build an industrial-scale, green hydrogen production plant in Rocaforte, Sangüesa.

 

The project, currently in the development stage, involves the construction of a 25MW electrolyzer on the land plots adjacent to the Sangüesa biomass plant. The electrolyzer will be powered by hybrid renewable energy produced at a photovoltaic plant (25MW) and a wind farm (24MW), both newly built facilities that are currently under development.

 

The plans of Plug and ACCIONA Energía entail a total associated investment of €87 million, and the creation of over 500 direct, indirect, and induced jobs during the construction of the plant.

 

Once built, the plant will reach a total production of 3,880 tons of green hydrogen per year. The aim is to use 90% of the green hydrogen production for consumption by the main energy-intensive industries in the area, such as paper, glass, steel, food and automotive, contributing to their decarbonization and the reduction of their CO2 emissions, including Plug’s customers in material handling, stationary power, and on-road mobility applications. The remaining 10% will be used for the transport sector through the installation of a hydrogen station at the same location.

 

The project envisages the possibility to expand the hydrogen plant in the future, depending on the evolution of demand, to double the initially planned power (50MW) of electrolysis.

 

Several representatives from the Navarra Government attended the presentation, including the President, María Victoria Chivite, the Regional Minister of Economic and Business Development Mikel Irujo, and the General Director of Industry, Uxue Itoiz. In addition, the Mayor of Sangüesa Lucía Echegoyen, and the President of the Rocaforte Council María Eugenia Pérez, participated too. Representing the project was the Chairman of ACCIONAPLUG and CEO of ACCIONA Energía, Rafael Mateo, the CEO of ACCIONAPLUG, Alan Ripa, and the European Sales Director for the Applications Business unit of Plug, Alasdair Leapman.

 

The President of Navarra, María Chivite, announced during today's meeting that the regional government is declaring the Valle H2V Navarra project an investment of interest for the region at its session tomorrow. This will speed up its processing and development. She also highlighted the "strategic" nature of this project, not only because of the investment and the jobs created, but also because "it will provide clean energy to the industrial ecosystem of the region, where there are companies that are large consumers of energy, and because it will place Sangüesa on the innovation map".

 

The project brings together all the key elements of the green hydrogen value chain: renewable energy generation, production infrastructure, storage, and distribution of green hydrogen. At this time, it will be one of the largest hydrogen plants commissioned in Europe.

 

"Valle H2V Navarra was created with the objective of being the first operational green hydrogen generation plant at industrial scale in Navarra, and to give a qualitative and quantitative boost to the decarbonization of the industry in the region," said Rafael Mateo, Chairman of ACCIONAPLUG and CEO of ACCIONA Energía. "In addition, this project is of particular interest thanks to its scalability and replicability, as it will provide an operational example of the contribution of green hydrogen in the energy transition."

 

The Valle H2V Navarra project plans to start generating green hydrogen by the end of 2024, thus enabling the government of Navarra to comply with the Navarra Green Hydrogen Agenda, a roadmap for the development of a green hydrogen ecosystem, which foresees the installation of between 10MW and 30MW of production by 2024 and 150MW by 2030 in the region.

 

The Valle H2V Navarra project is being developed by ACCIONAPLUG, a 50/50 joint venture between ACCIONA Energía, world leader in renewable energies, and Plug Power, leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, such as electrolyzers, fuel cells, and liquefaction.

 

The joint venture, based in Madrid, combines Plug's best-in-class electrolyzer technology and ACCIONA Energía's status as the leading distributor of 100% renewable energy in Spain and Portugal, countries where ACCIONAPLUG is working on the development of green hydrogen projects.

 

Spain and Portugal are ready to play a leading role in the European economy's path to decarbonization, benefiting from high levels of renewable resources. The Spanish government presented its hydrogen roadmap in October 2020 and Portugal approved its own in August 2020. ACCIONAPLUG's goal is to reach 20% market share by 2030.