Consortium hopes to "hydroenergise" Barcelona
A consortium of over 20 companies, research institutes and public entities headed by BayWa r.e has teamed up with the Port of Barcelona to jointly work towards the implementation of a hydrogen economy within Barcelona and the surrounding area.
The "Hydrogenising Barcelona Initiative," which was launched in 2020, has ambitions to make the green hydrogen economy - the idea of creating sustainable green hydrogen for greater use as a biofuel - a reality.
It hopes to achieve this end through a mix of public and private cooperation and the development of economically viable hydrogen-centric business models.
Read more: Plans laid out for Europe's green hydrogen future
The scheme also hopes to create an ecosystem for SME's, enabling them to participate within the evolution of the economy with the plans to create more sustainable business opportunities.
Green hydrogen forms a key part of the European Green Deal and the project hopes to accelerate Barcelona's energy transition through the deployment of related technologies.
The President of the Port Authority of Barcelona, Mercè Conesa, considers that hydrogen is under consideration in the Port’s strategy for the Energy transition, for applications such as transport and energy storage.
The Hydrogenising Barcelona initiative will be implemented in several phases.
The first will require 20MW of electrolysers to be deployed within the Zona Franca area, which could produce enough green hydrogen to power 200 fuel cell trucks and other similar electric vehicles, which will bed introduced to daily operations.
The second phase will see a scale-up of hydrogen production to 100MW. The proposal will be completed by a section of the consortium under the Green Deal Call bringing in several innovations by way of electrolyser improvements, digital enhancements and integration with a VPP to generate flexibility and optimisation.
Further proposals and projects are expected to be added and submitted for funding as the initiative expands and looks forward to to further scale-up.
Read more: Orsted to develop major green hydrogen hub
Marc Rechter, CEO of the Resilient Group, who are heading phase two and a co-developer of the Hydrogenising Barcelona project said that hydrogen is an essential component of the energy transition.
"Demonstration projects are needed to fine-tune and scale up new business models that will develop the hydrogen economy," he added.
Rechter said that because green hydrogen is produced from water and electricity sourced from renewables, it reduces dependency on fossil fuels, increases security of supply and reinforces national and regional industrial value chains.
He claims green hydrogen represents the "missing link" for the full and accelerated implementation of the European Green Deal.
Barcelona was selected by the consortium as it presented the "ideal location" to develop a long-term green hydrogen-based strategy for the energy transition.
The project has the potential to help decarbonise several key industries, all of which are present within the city, including heavy-duty transportation, ports and maritime activities, grey hydrogen and for general mobility in services such as public transport.
The consortium also claims the project could stand to significantly improve air quality and trigger new economic growth.
Jeffrey Dost, the CEO of Kopala International, a consortium member forming part of phase two said: “If we want the world to become sustainable and the green hydrogen economy a reality, we must make that the citizens can benefit in their daily lives from green hydrogen and that green hydrogen creates quality jobs for them."
Read more: Anglo American and ENGIE explore South African hydrogen valley
Juan Conesa, CEO & founder of Grupo Primafrio, another member of the consortium claims the ecological transition is today more than ever a step needed to stop climate change and integrate the zero-emission logistics in our daily lives.
"Green hydrogen is the greatest opportunity we have had in human history to guarantee and preserve our next generation life and biodiversity," he added.
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