Cepsa brings in Fertiberia to its 1-GW green H2 project in Spain

Spanish fertiliser producer Fertiberia has joined Cepsa as a strategic partner on its 1-GW electrolysis project in Palos de la Frontera, southern Spain, as both companies bet on green hydrogen and renewable gases to decarbonise their operations.

It is an agreement between neighbours -- the oil major runs its La Rabida refinery in Palos de la Frontera right next to Fertiberia’s ammonia and urea plant -- a position that will allow them to exploit existing industrial and operational synergies, Cepsa said in an announcement on Wednesday.

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The project is part of Cepsa’s plan to establish the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, a zone encompassing two sets of 1-GW electrolysis systems, production, local distribution and consumption and passages to ports from where hydrogen carriers are to sail to Rotterdam. The company said that the efforts in Palos will create the Green Hydrogen Ring, or a circle comprising renewable energy sources, electrolysis and biogas, hydrogen pipes and storage and deliveries to consumers in Spain and abroad.

The agreement with Fertiberia will enable both companies to meet hydrogen and biogenic CO2 needs of their facilities in Palos de la Frontera. In addition, the alliance will help create a circular hydrogen and oxygen economy in the wider area and may extend to green ammonia and methanol production in both southern Spain and other provinces in the mainland, according to the announcement.

Less then a month ago, Cepsa welcomed Spanish renewable gases firm Enagas Renovable and green energy developer Alter Enersun as partners on the La Rabida portion of the Valley project. Days later, Portuguese utility group EDP Energias de Portugal SA (ELI:EDP) was announced as the partner on the other 1-GW half in Campo de Gibraltar.

Fertiberia’s green hydrogen journey started in 2020 with a partnership with Spanish utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE), which built a 20-MW electrolyser and a solar-plus-storage system to produce hydrogen for its ammonia plant in central Spain. Later in 2020, Fertiberia and Iberdrola increased their joint target to 800 MW of electrolysis through 2027.