It looks clear. Eight storage containers on which large ‘H2‘ is written, connected to the factory via pipes. The hydrogen is produced within this, as the minister of climate and energy Rob Jetten explains during a short tour. First, water is purified to pure H2O, then the hydrogen is extracted via electrolysis. In any case, Minister Jetten seems surprised. “This is much bigger than I thought,” he says, once the tour is over. “Very impressive to see this on this scale. Not comparable to the smaller installations in the Netherlands.”
A young technology
We are in Puertollano, in the largest hydrogen power plant in Europe, the second in the world. Hydrogen is a young technology that can be used to store and transport energy. The Iberian plan is to transport hydrogen produced with sustainable energy to the north of Europe on a large scale, for example to keep the industry in the Netherlands and the Ruhr area running.
In the first instance, this transport can be done by boat, where the hydrogen is converted into ammonia. Later, transport can take place via a European network of pipelines – one of the reasons France and Spain are working on a new connection. The Netherlands is also on board, as became clear on Monday when Minister Jetten and the Spanish Minister for Energy Transition Teresa Ribera signed an agreement for more intensive cooperation in the field of hydrogen.
Within the EU, society can become more intensive
Standing between the pipes of the hydrogen plant, Minister Jetten sees possibilities. “Last year we learned that you need a lot of countries where you get the import from,” says Jetten, referring to the gas supply from Russia, which was cut off by the Ukraine war. “We now have energy agreements with Australia, Namibia and Oman, for example. That’s all far away. It is important that we also intensify cooperation within the EU, such as here.”
Anyone reading the Spanish newspapers in recent months would believe that we are seeing the dawn of a new economy and energy supply in the European Union. Last December, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez already spoke of a connection to the port of Rotterdam, which would make the energy transition an ‘indisputable success’ and make Spain an ‘energy-exporting country’.
Four thousand jobs for ’empty Spain’
Spain might use such a message internally: a city like Puertollano, with roughly 50,000 inhabitants, is located in the interior that is regularly referred to as the ’empty Spain’. These are areas between the bustling capital of Madrid and the coasts that are bustling with tourism. These are parts of the country that are emptying and ageing, so specialized work is very welcome. Prime Minister Sánchez proudly announced four thousand new jobs in renewable energy this week.
The promised connection with Rotterdam does indeed seem to have come true: companies such as Gasunie, Shell and Tata Steel traveled along in the wake of the minister. The Spanish energy company Cepsa and a consortium of companies from the Rotterdam port area signed a Memorandum of Understanding to transport sustainably generated (green) hydrogen converted into ammonia by boat to the Netherlands.
Still, there are problems – or challenges, depending on how optimistic you want to see things. Firstly, the increase in scale: the Puertollano power station has a capacity of 20 megawatts and can produce 8 tons of hydrogen per day. With this, for example, more than five hundred hydrogen buses can be refueled – not nearly enough for Europe’s energy needs. But a new plant with ten times the capacity is planned, which can be built in regarding two years. Moreover, this is not the only hydrogen project in Spain and Portugal.
The Netherlands can also produce hydrogen itself
A lot will have to be done on the Dutch side, also to receive and convert the large quantities of hydrogen – or ammonia – safely in the port of Rotterdam, Minister Jetten also sees that. But as far as he is concerned, Spain’s hydrogen plan is a puzzle piece in a much larger whole, in which the Netherlands and Europe can break free from fossil fuels and from dependence on countries such as Russia.
“The Netherlands itself is also interesting (for hydrogen production, ed.) because of offshore wind, but we can never produce enough for our own needs,” says Minister Jetten. “You actually need the wind from the north of Europe, the hydropower from Scandinavia and the sun from the south. It is also not a problem to get a part outside Europe, ultimately you want the whole world to be able to participate in the energy transition.”
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