Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC, Masdar, one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, and VERBUND Green Hydrogen GmbH have signed a deal to explore developing a green hydrogen plant in central Spain with a view to decarbonising Europe’s hard-to-abate sectors.
As world leaders negotiated at the UN’s Climate Change Conference COP28 in the UAE, clean energy pioneers Masdar and VERBUND Green Hydrogen GmbH moved forward with plans to analyse the feasibility of building one of Europe’s largest green hydrogen production plants in central Spain.
Harnessing the abundant renewable resources of the Castilla-La Mancha region, the prospective plant will aim to generate green hydrogen to cover industrial demand in Spain and central Europe. The study will evaluate if green hydrogen produced at the plant has the potential to displace up to 1m tonnes of carbon emissions annually, equivalent to removing around 700,000 cars from the road every year.
The agreement was signed by Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, Masdar’s chief green hydrogen officer and Hamead Ahrary, managing director of VERBUND Green Hydrogen GmbH during COP28 in Expo City Dubai. It cements an earlier pact, signed between the companies during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in January 2023, to explore green hydrogen opportunities to cover European demand.
Green hydrogen is produced using electricity from renewable sources whereby the water is separated into oxygen and hydrogen, via the process of electrolysis. It is intended that the explored plant will produce green hydrogen using renewable energy generated by solar power plants, potentially including Masdar’s planned gigawatt-scale solar plant in Castilla-La Mancha and onshore wind farms. The project is expected to stimulate job creation and boost green industry in the sparsely populated area.
For more information visit EICDataStream