Under its Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley plans, Cespa will build two green hydrogen plants with 1GW of capacity each, located in Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, and Cádiz.

H2 View understands the company intends to see the Huelva plant start up in 2026, reaching full capacity in 2028, with the Cádiz facility coming into operation in 2027.

To power the planned sites, which are expected to produce up to 300,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, Cespa has said it will develop 3GW worth of wind and solar energy projects, making up an additional €2bn ($2.1bn) investment.

Maarten Wetselaar, CEO of Cespa said, “The Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley is a groundbreaking project whose 2GW capacity is 10 times bigger than the largest under construction in Europe today. The project produces green hydrogen at a scale that can decarbonise industry, aviation, and heavy road and maritime transport in Europe, for Europe.”

It is hoped the major hub will support Europe’s goals of both meeting Net Zero and securing its energy supply. Under the REPowerEU plan, released in May (2022), the EU is looking to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen and import an additional 10 million tonnes by 2030.

In October (2022), Cespa and the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands partnered with intentions of establishing the ‘first’ green hydrogen corridor between southern and northern Europe.

Read more: Plans for the ‘first’ green hydrogen corridor between southern and northern Europe revealed

Under the agreement, Cespa plans to export its hydrogen produced in Spain through hydrogen carriers such as ammonia and methanol to the Port of Rotterdam.

Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez said the hydrogen valley investment could help Spain achieve its goal of becoming an energy exporter.

Prime Minister Sanchez said, “This investment will help Spain achieve its goal to become an energy exporting country, with the first European green hydrogen corridor between Campo de Gibraltar and the Dutch Port of Rotterdam. Andalusia has everything it takes to become one of the most competitive regions in the world for hydrogen production.”

In 2020, the Spanish Government approved the country’s Hydrogen Roadmap in order to achieve climate neutrality and a 100% renewable electricity system no later than 2050.

Read more: Spanish Hydrogen Roadmap approved

Within the roadmap, the Spanish Government sets out national objectives to promote renewable hydrogen by 2030 and, based on them, designs a vision for 2050. The outlined objectives were:

Four gigawatt of installed electrolysis power.
25% of industrial hydrogen consumption to be of renewable origin by 2030.
A fleet of at least 150 hydrogen buses, 5,000 light and heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles and two lines of hydrogen-powered trains by 2030.