Spanish utility Iberdrola will invest €3bn ($3.2bn) in green hydrogen before 2030, company chairman Ignacio Galan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Galan is one of a number of CEOs to have signed a manifesto at the summit agreeing to meet the EU goal of reducing emissions by 55pc below 1990 levels by 2030.

He noted that coordinated EU action—such as that seen in the RepowerEU proposals—was essential to achieving the bloc’s target to increase hydrogen use to 20mn t/yr.

“We have to move in a hurry. We have the technology, the support of society and, as companies, we are ready to play our role, investing and committing all our human and technological resources, but we need clarity, the rule of law and attractive regulation,” he says.

The firm’s hydrogen plan is still under development but envisions the deployment 4GW of electrolysers by 2030.

“We have to move in a hurry” Galan, Iberdrola

It has already made some investment in the hydrogen sector. Earlier this month, it inaugurated its Puertollano green hydrogen plant in Spain. The project includes a 20MW electrolyser built by Norwegian manufacturer Nel and powered by 100MW of solar assets.  The plant will produce 3,000t/yr of green hydrogen to be used in a local ammonia plant run by chemicals company Fertiberia.

Iberdrola and Swedish startup H2 Green Steel plan to develop a 1GW green hydrogen plant by 2026 using renewable energy supplied by Iberdrola. The project will use the hydrogen to produce 2mn t/yr of direct-reduced iron, a feedstock for steel.

The two companies will also explore co-locating a steelmaking facility with capacity to produce 2.5-5mn t/yr of flat steel. The use of green hydrogen at the plant could reduce CO₂ emissions by 95pc, the firms claim.

Iberdrola subsidiary Scottish Power has also announced plans to develop a green hydrogen project in Scotland’s Cromarty Firth region with the potential to scale up to 300MW.

Iberdrola is also producing hydrogen that is used in urban transport applications in Spain.

---

Author: Stuart Penson