Alternative Solutions for Green Hydrogen Generation

Green hydrogen, obtained from the electrolysis of water using renewable energy sources in its generation, is a clean energy source with a high calorific value. It is therefore positioned as one of the major medium and long-term bets in the global context of decarbonisation and massive penetration of intermittent renewables, due to its characteristics as an energy vector and its versatility.

This has led to major efforts at global level to tackle the technical and economic difficulties associated with its development, thus positioning green hydrogen as a sustainable alternative, especially in sectors such as transport, heating and industry. According to the latest Bloomberg reports, green hydrogen could be profitable by 2030 if the cost of renewable electricity and electrolysers can be reduced. Moreover, global demand for hydrogen is expected to increase by 30% by 2040.

In this context, ACCIONA Energy, with an installed renewable power capacity of 8759 MW (2021) and 230 plants in operation, sees green hydrogen as a strategic source, with significant synergies in line with its business model, and is committed to the study and development of techniques and tools to accelerate its development.

OPPORTUNITY
Green hydrogen still has to overcome important technical, economic and regulatory challenges in order to become competitive and massive. For this reason, it is necessary to continue investing in research, development and innovation to take advantage of its full potential, with a strong commitment in both Spain and the European Union to generate opportunities in this respect:
- Opportunities at European level: the EU has launched a strategy to become a world leader in green hydrogen. It aims to produce 10 million tonnes per year of renewable hydrogen by 2030 and to reach a 14% share of final energy consumption by 2050. It is supporting projects to produce green hydrogen from wind and solar energy and to use it in transport, heating and industry.
- Opportunities at national level: Spain aspires to become a leading producer of green hydrogen. It currently has 20% of the world's green hydrogen projects. It is promoting projects to produce green hydrogen from wind and solar energy and to use it in transport, heating and industry. It has also created large shared infrastructures called hydrogen valleys or clusters.

In this way, in Spain alone, the implementation of hydrogen in a number of sectors could lead to a reduction of up to 4.6 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030.

WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR?
ACCIONA Energy is looking for solutions and technologies for hydrogen generation that are alternatives to electrolysis, efficient liquefaction technologies or H2 transport technologies or Power-to-Hydrogen technologies that facilitate the decarbonisation of industry.

Those that facilitate integration with photovoltaic and wind power plants, are highly innovative, have the capacity to justify the suitability and disruptive nature of the solutions proposed, and flexibility in relation to collaboration, both with ACCIONA Energy and with other partners in the ecosystem, will be positively valued.

In addition, it seeks to provide solutions to some of the main problems related to current green hydrogen production methods̶:

- Higher cost and energy expenditure than other fuels.
- Possible leaks that affect the atmosphere and global warming.
- Uncertainty in production, technology, market and certifications.

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