By 2030, British oil & gas major bp will develop a green hydrogen cluster called HyVal with 2 GW electrolyzer capacity at its Castellon refinery in Spain's Valencia region to decarbonize the refinery and also use green hydrogen for hard-to-abate industries and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
"We aim to develop up to 2 GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030 for green hydrogen production, helping decarbonize our operations and customers. And we plan to triple the refinery's production of biofuels to help meet the growing demand for lower carbon fuels such as SAF," said President of bp Energía España, Andrés Guevara.
Bp has zeroed in on Valencia for its proximity to ports and availability of wind and solar power generation in the region. It will also enable the company to increase the production of bio-fuels at the refinery by 3-times to 650,000 tons/year.
HyVal will start with a 200 MW electrolysis plant at the refinery by 2027 to produce up to 31,200 tons/year. This green hydrogen will be used to replace natural gas not only at the refinery but also in thermo-intensive industries like ceramics and heavy transport. It will also be used as a feedstock to produce SAF.
To be completed by 2030, phase II will see the project expanded to up to 2 GW which is when bp targets to start exporting green hydrogen produced to rest of Europe through the Mediterranean corridor of green hydrogen H2Med. Full development of the HyVal project is estimated to generate up to 5,000 jobs.
"The production of green hydrogen will be another step in strategic energy autonomy for Spain and more widely for Europe," added bp's Vice President Hydrogen, Spain and New Markets, Carolina Mesa.
The Britain headquartered company targets to produce 0.5 million tons to 0.7 million tons of green hydrogen annually by 2030.
The solar PV joint venture of bp, Lightsource bp is also active in Spain where it recently secured environmental permits for 19 solar plants with 1.62 GW combined capacity in the provinces of Zaragoza, Seville, Cordoba, Toledo and Valladolid to be brought online by 2025.
At the end of 2022, Spanish oil and gas company Cepsa said it will use 3 GW wind and solar power in Spain to produce 300,000 tons/year green hydrogen from 2 GW capacity to be used locally for decarbonization of industry, and transport for Europe (see 3 GW RE For 2 GW Green Hydrogen Project In Spain).