Spain

Country: Spain

Document type: National Roadmap

Title: Hydrogen Roadmap – A commitment to Renewable Hydrogen (English translation enabled)

(Spanish language release)

(English language Executive Summary)

Released: October 2020

Summary Points:

  • The roadmap outlines a set of national targets for renewable hydrogen by 2030, including:
    • Production – Installation of 4 GW of electrolyser capacity, with an intermediate milestone of between 300-600 MW by 2024.
    • Industry – 25% of industrial hydrogen consumption to be from renewable sources.
    • Mobility – fleet of at least 150 buses, 5,000 light and heavy vehicles and two commercial train lines to be powered by renewable hydrogen, as well as introduction of (renewable) hydrogen-powered handling machinery at the main five ports and airports.
  • A set of 60 measures grouped by key policy areas support implementation, with key points including:
    • Regulatory actions, including development of a system of Guarantees of Origin that ensures hydrogen is produced from renewable sources.
    • Design of financial instruments to support hydrogen-intensive industries in the uptake of renewable hydrogen.
    • Identification of ‘consumption poles’ in order to create ‘hydrogen valleys’.
    • Sectoral measures to encourage renewable hydrogen projects and use.
    • Promotion of R&D across the hydrogen value chain and the national development of ‘high-powered’ electrolysers (100 MW scale).
  • It is estimated that the private and public investment to 2030 required to implement the strategy is at around €8.9 billion.
  • Note: In September 2024, the Spanish Government approved the update to the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2023-2030 (PNIEC 2023). The updated Plan has set a target of reaching 12 GW of installed electrolyser capacity by 2030, up from 4 GW in PNIEC 2020. The updated Plan also sees increased wind generation, photovoltaic solar generation and power storage capacity targets of 62 GW, 76 GW and 22.5 GW respectively.

In December 2021, the Spanish Government announced the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PETRE) of Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage (ERHA). This mechanism aims to allocate €6.9 billion of public funds supporting ERHA technologies with a further €9.5 billion expected to be mobilised from the private sector. Of the total of €6.9 billion of public funding, around €1.55 billion is to be allocated to development of renewable hydrogen (with expectations to mobilise €2.8 billion of private sector investment). Funding support under this PETRE is expected to be available during 2022-2023. In December 2022, media reports indicated that the first grants of €250 million from the PETRE ERHA were awarded to 29 projects encompassing up to 487 MW of electrolyser capacity.

In October 2022, the EC approved under the Guidelines on State Aid for Climate, Environmental Protection and Energy 2022, €220 million grant funding to Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios, S.A. (‘COBRA’) to support the construction and installation of electrolysers in the Cartagena and Castellon regions of Spain (with the two electrolysers expected to have a total capacity of 205 MW).

In October 2022, it was reported that Spain, Portugal and France had agreed to build a sea-based pipeline (H2Med) to carry hydrogen and gas between Barcelona and Marseille. In December 2022, it was further reported that the pipeline would be exclusively dedicated to green hydrogen, would cost around €2.5 billion, would have capacity to transport two million tonnes of hydrogen per annum, and should be completed by 2030. The report noted that the three countries would submit the project to the EC for declaration as a ’project of common interest’. In January 2023, it was announced that, as part of a French-German declaration, the two countries would take the necessary steps on a European backbone for hydrogen transport across Europe, including the necessary national and transnational hydrogen infrastructures and, in particular, the extension and connection of existing and planned infrastructures, including extension of the H2Med pipeline to Germany in close cooperation with involved partners.

In January 2023, media reports indicated the Spanish Government would implement a (new) grant award of €74 million to accelerate implementation of four projects – three being for electrolyser manufacture and one for the development of hydrogen-powered heavy transport vehicles.

In February 2023, the European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a €460 million Spanish measure to support ArcelorMittal to partially decarbonise its steel production facility in Gijón, where it operates two blast furnaces producing liquid hot metal. The aid will support the construction of a renewable hydrogen-based direct reduced iron plant. The plant is envisioned to start operating by the end of 2025.

In April 2023, media reports indicated that the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) awarded around €200 million to renewable hydrogen projects within the PERTE ERHA framework:

  • €150 million granted to 19 projects as part of the H2 Pioneers call which includes initiatives to support the use of hydrogen in difficult to decarbonise sectors such as industry and heavy transport.
  • Almost €50 million granted to 18 projects related to equipment manufacturing for the production, transport and distribution of renewable hydrogen, submitted under call 1 and call 2 of the H2 Value Chain program.

In June 2023, MITECO announced aid totalling €100 million in supporting large electrolyser-based projects for the production of renewable hydrogen, and is included under the PERTE ERHA framework. The aid seeks to promote both the development of electrolysis demonstrators and initiatives for the integration of large capacity electrolysers in industrial environments.

In December 2023, media reports indicated that MITECO awarded €150 million to 12 projects under the second round of funding under the H2 Pioneers Program (and which in total would support 309 MW of electrolyser capacity).

In February 2024, media reports indicated that the European Commission has proposed a €42 million grant through the Innovation Fund to a green hydrogen project (encompassing a 280 MW electrolyser) based in the Castile and Leon region of Spain.

In July 2024, the Spanish Government announced it had approved state aid of €794 million for seven renewables-based hydrogen projects with an overall electrolysis capacity of 652 MW. The projects expected to receive funding were approved in 2022 by the European Commission for state aid under the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) scheme Hy2Use.

In July 2024 (17-07-24), in an address to the Lower House of Parliament, the President of the Government of Spain announced that ‘in the coming days’ the Executive would launch four new programmes with more than €2.3 billion to accelerate the energy transition in areas such as green hydrogen and the renewable energy value chain.

In July 2024, the EC announced it had approved a €1.2 billion Spanish scheme to support investments in the production of renewable hydrogen in hydrogen clusters or valleys. The scheme would support investments in the production of renewable hydrogen with an installed capacity of at least 100 MW: investments supported may encompass (i) the production of renewable hydrogen-derived fuels, (ii) renewable hydrogen storage, and (iii) the production of renewable electricity.

In November 2024, in a joint release, the EC, Spain, Lithuania and Austria announced that the three Member States will participate in the ‘Auctions-as-a-Service’ scheme as part of the second European Hydrogen Bank auction. In addition to the €1.2 billion in EU funding from the Innovation Fund, the three EU Member States will deploy over €700 million in national funds to support renewable hydrogen production projects located in their countries, bringing the funding mobilised by the ‘IF24′ renewable hydrogen auction to around €2 billion. Spain is allocating between €280 and €400 million for the Auctions-as-a-Service scheme, using funds from its Recovery and Resilience Plan, with the exact amount of support to be confirmed by (the European) spring 2025.

 

Reviewed: November 2024