Spanish solar PV developer RIC Energy is branching out into the green hydrogen arena with a plan to alone tackle the installation of up to 15 MW of solar-powered electrolysers in Valladolid province, northwest Spain.
The proposal for the project was unveiled on Thursday by RIC Energy and the city council of Arroyo de la Encomienda, a Valladolid municipality that will host the green hydrogen plant and related infrastructure.
According to the company’s presentation, the first phase of the project will involve the construction of a 18-MWp solar farm and a 5-MW electrolysis system made up of two 2.5-MW PEM stacks.
In later stages, the solar PV capacity would increase to 50 MW, while the electrolyser capacity would expand to 15 MW.
RIC Energy says it has already finalised the basic engineering side of the project and completed the environmental impact assessment. It will aim to take the final investment decision for the estimated EUR-25-million (USD 26.4m) project in the fourth quarter of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023.
The first-phase plant is expected to be in operation in late 2023 or early 2024.
Based on the project presentation, RIC Energy will be in charge of the entire value chain of the project -- from solar power generation at its own farm, green hydrogen production, compression and storage, and distribution to off-takers. It expects to find off-takers among industrial consumers, natural gas companies and clean mobility operators in the Valladolid area.
No other partners or consortia were mentioned in the presentation.
The city of Valladolid, located some 180 kilometres (111.8 miles) from Madrid, was chosen due to being well connected by roads leading to other major cities and industrial areas of Spain, and to France and Portugal. The company further says it has a pipeline of 783 MWp of solar PV projects in the Castile and Leon region, where Valladolid is.
In the presentation, RIC Energy revealed that it has one other green hydrogen project in development in Spain. This project, named the Puertollano HydRIC, will be located in the region of Castile-La Mancha, and feature a 255-MW solar farm and 100 MW of alkaline electrolysers.
(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.057)
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