CIP and partners announced the 500MW MadoquaPower2X project in Portugal. This adds to the 11.4GW of green hydrogen projects already unveiled in the region in the last three months.
Its developers have announced the construction of a 500MW H2 facility, one of the largest green hydrogen hubs in Europe, in the Portuguese port of Sines by 2025.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has joined forces with Portuguese developer Madoqua Renewables and Dutch consultancy Power2X. The project, with an estimated investment of €1 billion ($1.08 billion), will involve 500MW of electrolyzers. In turn, these will produce 50,000 tons of green hydrogen and 500,000 tons of green ammonia per year.
This is the second large-scale green hydrogen hub announced by CIP this year. The first was the unveiling of the 2GW Catalina Project in Spain in February.
An even larger renewable H2 project, the 7.4 GW HyDeal Spain, was also announced in February. Just one month after the 2GW Repsol-led SHYNE plan in northern Spain was unveiled.
Green hydrogen projects
In total, 11.9 GW of green hydrogen projects have been announced in Iberia in the last three months. So much so that Portugal and Spain are expected to be able to produce green hydrogen more cheaply than other parts of Europe due to their high solar irradiation and relatively strong winds.
The renewable energy needed for the MadoquaPower2X project will be sourced in Portugal, “in particular from the renewable energy communities for wind and solar plants that are being developed in parallel,” CIP said in a statement.
“The hydrogen produced under this project can be used by local industry as well as processed to create green ammonia for export from the Sines port terminal,” it added.
The partners expect the project to have all permits in place and be ready for a final investment decision by the end of next year, “so that construction can begin thereafter and the first hydrogen production can take place in the middle of the decade.”
They are also looking at expanding the project to 1 million tons of green ammonia, which would presumably require 1GW of electrolyzers.
“MadoquaPower2X will pave the way towards decarbonizing critical industrial processes and reducing dependence on natural gas imports,” said Occo Roelofsen, CEO of Power2X. Company that also develops energy transition projects in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Portugal’s Secretary of Environment and Energy, João Galamba, added: “This important investment represents the real implementation of Portugal’s National Strategy for Hydrogen, in line with the European Industrial Strategy, as well as the most recent measures proposed by the European Commission on REpower EU”.
Source: Recharge News (2022)