Renewable

February 1 (Renewables Now) - Spanish electric utility Endesa SA (BME:ELE) on Monday announced that it has a plan to install 340 MW of electrolyser capacity for green hydrogen projects in the mainland and islands of Spain.

The company said it had responded to the call for expression of interest launched last year by the Spanish ministry for the ecological transition, which sought to identify home-grown projects along the entire green hydrogen value chain.

The Spanish government put the target of 300 MW-600-MW of installed electrolyser capacity by 2024 in its Hydrogen Roadmap, and 4 GW by 2030.

Endesa said it expects to invest some EUR 2.9 billion (USD 3.51bn) in its green hydrogen ambition, the amount that will cover the costs of electrolysers and close to 2,000 MW of renewables that will feed them. The company already marked 3,900 MW of new wind and solar for commissioning between 2021 and 2023, as announced in the latest strategic plan.

Of the presented projects, the most advanced is the one in As Pontes, a municipality in the Spanish region of Galicia and the home to Endesa’s thermal power plant. The As Pontes green hydrogen project will feature a 100-MW electrolyser and six wind farms totalling 611 MW, Endesa said.

Elsewhere on the Spanish mainland, the company proposes to install eight electrolysers for a combined capacity of 215 MW.

Projects in the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and Spain’s North African exclave of Melilla would get EUR 900 million of Endesa’s money.

All of the non-mainland projects are located in areas in which Endesa operates a thermal power plant. At some of these sites, the company proposes to build new wind and solar farms for 25 MW of electrolysers. Other options include converting existing operating plants to dual fuel and replacing capacity of some plants with hydrogen/gas.

The company added that it will develop up to 23 projects, ranging from the production of hydrogen to its end use.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.21)