The long trajectory in the research and development of hydrogen technologies and the commitment of the Aragonese Executive to maintain and promote the lines of work have been protagonists this morning of the European Week of Regions in Brussels. The Director General of Industrial Promotion and Innovation of the Government of Aragon, Mar Paños, has intervened in this conference, showing her support to the hydrogen valleys that allow “creating regional ecosystems in which the whole hydrogen value chain is present by grouping initiatives of production, storage and final use of this energy vector”.

In his presentation, Paños highlighted the trajectory of the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation, which brings together more than 90 companies, organizations and research centers in its board of trustees. He highlighted the Foundation full development of the fourth master plan, which ends in 2025 and contains a strategic line on these regional valleys. In addition, the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation is the only entity working in six different valleys funded by the European Union and the Spanish entity that has been awarded more projects of the main European funding program for hydrogen, the Hydrogen Technology Platform (Clean Hydrogen Partnership Joint Undertaking CH2JU).

The long-awaited start of the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley (NAHV) is here at last. The first transnational initiative of this kind under the Horizon Europe programme, supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, is being launched in Portorož-Portorose, Slovenia. More than 100 delegates representing 37 project partners from three countries, Croatia, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region in Italy, and Slovenia, will gather there for a project kick-off meeting.

 Beginning on 1^st September 2023, the NAHV will run for 72 months. It includes 17 pilots to be developed in different locations in all three partner countries. The partnership, which has been awarded a grand of €25 million by Clean Hydrogen Partnership, and isled by HSE, Slovenia’s largest electricity producer and trader and the largest producer of electricity from renewable sources, includes 37 organisations: companies, universities, institutes and other public entities from the three participating countries. The project design covers the entire value chain of renewable hydrogen use, from production, through storage and distribution, to its end use in various sectors, notably industry and land and maritime transport, creating leverage to accelerate the transition to renewables on three target pillars: hard-to-abate industries, and the energy and transport sectors. These are the main reasons why the NAHV has received the Seal of Excellence, which is awarded under Horizon Europe to projects that have been highly rated.

The key aim of the initiative is to create a market for green hydrogen on both the demand and supply sides, making it a competitive energy source for the future. Key industry players from all three countries will develop pilot projects to produce up to 5,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year from renewable energy sources, destined for energy storage, distribution and use. It is expected that some 20% of the produced renewable hydrogen will be exchanged between the participating countries, thus creating a primary regional market for hydrogen. By introducing advanced hydrogen technologies and developing skills and infrastructure, the partnership also pursues other key objectives of the European Green Deal. In particular, the NAHV testbed projects address the decarbonisation of important industrial sectors such as steel, cement and glass production, and provides sustainable land and maritime transport solutions linked to reducing the carbon footprint.

It is expected that the implementation of the planned mature stage innovation activities will unleash further investments in renewable hydrogen-related technologies in an amount of more than €300 million, destined to increase the capacity of hydrogen production, storage, transmission and use. Additional investments are expected to be funded on top, both during the course of the project implementation and afterwards, from private and public sources in the form of follow-up investments in the successfully implemented pilots in 17 testbed locations across the three participating countries, as well as through new initiatives which will contribute to the evolution of a social and economic ecosystem based on renewable hydrogen. The foreseen development creates the need for new competencies and skills, which makes the universities and research institutions which are partners in the initiative important protagonists in designing and disseminating new educational programmes, as the NAHV is destined to become a vehicle for job creation.

Institutional representatives of the three constituent territories: Croatia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Slovenia, respectively: State Secretary Ivo Milatić, Regional Councillor Pierpaolo Roberti on behalf of the President Massimiliano Fedriga, and State Secretary Tina Sersen, welcomed the participants of the NAHV Kick-off meeting in Portorož together with the CEO of HSE, the lead partner, dr. Tomaž Štokelj. Later in the day, they addressed the public at the press conference together with Antonio Aguilo Rullan of Clean Hydrogen Partnership Joint Undertaking.

Picture and text by https://www.hse.si/en/

he Kings of Spain and the Netherlands present the green hydrogen corridor between Algeciras and Rotterdam.

His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands will visit the autonomous communities of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 June in the morning. His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain will be present at some of the events on the programme. Mr Willem-Alexander will be accompanied by Rob Jetten, Minister for Climate and Energy.

On the 13th, during HM King Willem-Alexander’s stay at the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will organise two meetings on the future of green hydrogen.

At 4 p.m. a symposium is scheduled under the title:

“The contribution of hydrogen valleys to the decarbonisation of Europe. Opportunities for Dutch-Spanish cooperation in the development of hydrogen valleys and sustainable aviation fuels”.

The media can attend the symposium from a press section. Speeches will be as follows:

– Speeches by Teresa Ribera, Minister for Ecological Transition, and Rob Jetten, Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy.

– Introduction by Javier Brey, Spanish Hydrogen Association.

– Debate led by Bart Biebuyck, former Executive Director Clean Hydrogen Partnership.

– Closing remarks by the Spanish Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez.

At 17:15 there will be a networking event at the Glorieta de los Castaños del Jardín, where D. Guillermo-Alejandro will be present, with several Dutch and Spanish companies on hydrogen valleys and the innovative hydrogen ecosystem.

The Commission and key stakeholders signed a joint declaration highlighting the crucial role of sustained efforts in renewable hydrogen research and innovation.

Through this declaration, the Commission together with the European hydrogen industry, scientific community, and European regions, commit to stepping up and accelerating joint actions in research, development, demonstration, and deployment of Hydrogen Valleys. In line with the EU Hydrogen Strategy and contributing to the REPowerEU Plan and the Green Deal Industrial Plan objectives, these powerhouses connect hydrogen production, transportation, and a range of cutting-edge applications – from clean mobility to industrial feedstock – creating fully functional and sustainable clusters of supply and demand, advancing renewable hydrogen deployment and as a result driving forward the clean energy transition.

The joint declaration also calls for sustained investments, strengthening synergies between funding resources, sharing knowledge, stimulating the development of education and training for skills, and building regional hydrogen networks and interconnections between Hydrogen Valleys.

Based on this, we highlight the work of our partner, the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation, the only European entity that participates in 5 hydrogen valleys. This model is ideal for extending and showing that this technology brings together all the elements related to the production, storage, transport and end use of hydrogen in a single territory. Specifically, the Aragonese Foundation is participating in the hydrogen valley projects of BIG HIT (Scotland), Heavenn (Holland), Green Hysland (Balearic Islands), NAVH (Italy-Slovenia-Croatia) and SH2AMROCK (Ireland).

Pic by https://energy.ec.europa.eu/

The Agri-Food City of Tudela, in Navarra, has been the scene of the first forum of the Ebro Hydrogen Corridor. An event in which 43 projects belonging to Aragon, Basque Country, Navarra and Catalonia and representing the entire value chain have been presented. The event has also had institutional representation with the presence of the President of Navarra, Maria Chivite; the Minister of Economic and Business Development of the Government of Navarra, Mikel Irujo; the director of the Basque Energy Agency, Iñigo Ansola; the Director General of Industry and SMEs of the Government of Aragon, Javier Navarro; and the Minister of Enterprise and Labor of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Roger Torrent. The president of Navarra, María Chivite, has highlighted «the importance of the collaboration between the communities of the Basque Country, Aragon, Catalonia and Navarra to work with ambition in the energy transition and for the Ebro Corridor to become the Green Hydrogen pole in Southern Europe with the sum of the industrial capacities of the four autonomous communities and the ability to promote a Hydrogen economy».
During the forum also took place the presentation of 43 projects representing the entire value chain of green hydrogen and belonging to the four autonomous communities. In addition, the companies have had the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings to form synergies between them and to develop projects that promote the development of the hydrogen economy.

Aragon has been the setting chosen to present the Ebro Hydrogen Corridor, a project that seeks to boost inter-territorial connection and serve as a link between the major regional initiatives around renewable hydrogen that are already underway in northeastern Spain.

This new ecosystem is set to play a leading role in decarbonising the surrounding industry while improving its competitiveness and attracting new investment. The project is supported by the Basque Hydrogen Corridor Association (BH2C), by ACCIÓ-Agency for Business Competitiveness as the entity responsible for the Hydrogen Valley of Catalonia (H2ValleyCat), the Foundation for the Development of New Hydrogen Technologies in Aragon (Fundación Hidrógeno Aragón) as the entity responsible for the coordination of the Aragon Hydrogen Valley “GetHyGA Initiative”, and the Industry Association of Navarra (AIN) together with the Society for the Development of Navarra (SODENA) as promoters of the Navarra Green Hydrogen Agenda.

Its creation, motivated by the desire to share information, analyse and study complementary actions that establish synergies between the different regional initiatives, has been driven by SHYNE, Spain’s largest multi-sectoral consortium for renewable hydrogen, launched last January, and which plays a fundamental role as a country project due to its integrating effect. SHYNE will also provide support for the projects developed in this initiative, knowledge management capacity and will promote research into pioneering technologies with the aim of positioning Spain at the forefront of this energy vector.

The presentation ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Government of Aragon and was attended by the Third Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, who explained that Spain will be at the centre of hydrogen production and will export hydrogen. She stressed that “the hydrogen economy is here to stay and the commitment of territories, companies and industries such as yours, which are providing critical solutions, to the point of being able to produce up to 70 or 80% of what we need to produce hydrogen in our country, we know that it is decisive and shows the way forward. That is why, from the Government, we have included a special role for hydrogen in the PERTE dedicated to renewable energies, storage and green hydrogen. Adding up, having corridors that allow us to combine the Hydrogen Valleys, industrial capacity and these end uses to test, expand and grow are absolutely crucial”.

The event began with words from the Director General of Industry and SMEs of the Government of Aragon and Vice President of the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation, Javier Navarro, and the CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, who attended representing the presidency of SHYNE. Also in attendance were the President of BH2C, Jose Ignacio Zudaire; the Director General of Industry of the Government of Catalonia and CEO of ACCIÓ- Agency for Business Competitiveness, Natalia Más; the Managing Director of the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation, Fernando Palacín; the Director General of Industry, Energy and Strategic Projects of the Government of Navarra, Uxue Itoiz; the Director General of the Industry Association of Navarra, Ana Ursúa; and the Director of Hydrogen Repsol and President of SHYNE, Tomás Malango. They all highlighted the importance of this project as the backbone of the new hydrogen economy in this area, which will contribute to the generation of quality employment, the attraction of new investments and innovation in renewable hydrogen technologies, creating wealth throughout its area of influence.

Subsequently, the Minister of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment of the Basque Government, Arantxa Tapia, the Minister of Business and Employment of the Government of Catalonia, Roger Torrent, the Vice President and Minister of Industry, Competitiveness and Business Development of the Government of Aragon, Arturo Aliaga, and the Minister of Economic and Business Development of the Government of Navarre and President of SODENA, Mikel Irujo, signed a public manifesto of cooperation and support for this initiative.

The Ebro Hydrogen Corridor will promote actions in all areas, including production, transport, use and storage. In terms of renewable hydrogen production, this ecosystem has set itself the ambition of installing a production capacity of 400 MW in 2025 (which entails 1.5 GW of associated renewable generation), and reaching 1.5 GW in 2030 (6 GW of renewable).

Another of its key lines of action will focus on stimulating the end uses of renewable hydrogen, both in the transport sector and in industrial uses in different sectors. Of note among these uses is the objective of achieving an annual production of 250,000 tonnes of products derived from renewable hydrogen such as methanol, ammonia or synthetic fuels by 2030. It will also promote the creation of a network of 20 hydrogen plants by 2025, an infrastructure that will have up to 100 points by 2030, to enable the deployment of its use in land, maritime and rail transport.

In addition, as regards the storage and transport of renewable hydrogen, cross-border projects will be promoted with the south of France to favour interconnection with Europe and position Spain as a relevant producer in the continental hydrogen market. This will be carried out in coordination with the Pyrenees Working Community.

Renewable hydrogen is one of the main energy vectors for achieving the decarbonisation of the economy thanks mainly to its versatility. Hydrogen is already used in the industrial sector as a feedstock in refining, in ammonia production, in the steel industry and mainly in the chemical industry. All these products will have a lower carbon footprint thanks to renewable hydrogen. But this gas also has multiple other uses; it is itself a clean fuel, in mobility it is used in the production of synthetic fuels or in fuel cells, and it can also be used to store renewable energy, thus solving the intermittency of wind and solar photovoltaic production. Coordination between all regional initiatives is a key element to achieve an efficient deployment of the hydrogen economy and to reach national and European targets.

The SHYNE project, under the leadership of Repsol, aims to promote inter-territorial actions and renewable hydrogen projects in all areas of the Spanish economy to promote rapid decarbonisation. SHYNE will deploy projects in ten autonomous communities and will have a total investment of 3,230 million euros that will serve to develop more competitive technologies and evolve both Spanish industry and its infrastructures towards decarbonisation, generating more than 13,000 jobs.

Statements

– The Vice President and Minister of Industry, Competitiveness and Business Development of the Government of Aragon, Arturo Aliaga: “Aragon already applied the approach behind the Ebro Hydrogen Corridor when it developed its own hydrogen valley, because we have always thought that no region will have the heritage of the entire value chain of this technology, which requires cooperation between complementary territories and actors. Our community offers unbeatable conditions for the implementation of such initiatives and the attraction of investment associated with them, such as a large green hydrogen production capacity, industry, skilled employment and the knowledge that comes from being pioneers in this field for two decades”. Aliaga concluded by assuring that “today we are laying the foundations for achieving industrial and energy sovereignty because we believe in the capacity of Spanish industry and the public administrations are aware that we cannot let this train pass us by”.

– The Basque Councillor for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia: “The Basque Hydrogen Corridor has taken on great relevance in the context of the current energy emergency. The creation of a hydrogen ecosystem, based in the Basque Country, which allows progress to be made in the decarbonisation of the energy, industrial, services and mobility sectors is more necessary than ever. The project opens up opportunities in the economic sphere, will involve an investment of more than 1,300 million euros up to 2026, and will generate more than 1,340 direct jobs and 6,700 indirect jobs. Above all, it will accelerate the energy transition and form part of the solution to energy needs. If all the territories join forces in the same direction, the achievements will be of great significance”.

– The Regional Minister for Economic and Business Development of the Government of Navarre and President of SODENA, Mikel Irujo: “The Ebro Hydrogen Corridor makes us more competitive, enabling us to strengthen the hydrogen value chain, gaining in size and scope to take on projects that we could not do alone, and to look to Europe. This public-private collaboration model will make it possible to develop an industry based on this energy vector”.

– The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, the entity that holds the presidency of SHYNE: “Due to its location, the Ebro Hydrogen Corridor will be a key lever to effectively develop all the potential of this geographical area, with a cross-border dimension of the future hydrogen economy, allowing a greater integration of value chains at European level”.

GetHyGA initiative aims to bring together a large number of projects to be developed in the region related to hydrogen from the energy, economic, industrial and development points of view. The Vice-president and Minister of Industry, Competitiveness and Business Development of the Government of Aragon, Arturo Aliaga, defines the initiative “GetHyGA as a tool to continue consolidating a hydrogen energy and technology pathway in Aragon”.

For Aliaga, GetHyGA adds to a long process that began in Aragon almost two decades ago, a period in which Aragon has been committed to and has carried out diverse and fruitful research into hydrogen that “has allowed our autonomous community to position itself as a benchmark”. And he added, “this new action plan promoted by the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation will allow us to create an industrial ecosystem, what is already known as a hydrogen valley, which will contemplate not only the production and consumption of hydrogen as a source of energy, but also, something that is key, its transport, storage and integration into industrial processes”.

The five main areas of GetHyGA are energy and environment, reindustrialisation and industrial reconversion, promotion of R&D&I, training, skills and talent, and definition of regional policies. The starting point for this initiative is the track record and national and international leadership that Aragon has enjoyed for almost two decades in the promotion of hydrogen technologies, fuel cells and renewable energies, for the benefit of the general interest of its citizens, companies and society.

Aragon Hydrogen Master Plan 2021-2025 Approved

GetHyGA is closely related to the Hydrogen Master Plan for Aragon 2021-2025, which has already been approved by the Board of Trustees of the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation. This document, the Aragon Hydrogen Foundation’s fourth Plan, is key to continue identifying opportunities in the development of hydrogen technologies in Aragon, as well as to establish specific actions that involve entities in its implementation, with the ultimate purpose of creating wealth in the region and helping to meet the national and European objectives of decarbonisation of the economy.