Cepsa

dresses in green wrapped by the Government.

The energy company announced this Thursday a megaproject called the Andalusian Hydrogen Valley, which includes the development of two production plants for this clean fuel.

The company plans to invest

5,000 million euros

in six years to start up this hydrogen

hub

, which represents around 62% of the maximum investment planned by the oil company for the next decade.

The President of the Executive,

Pedro Sánchez

, has accompanied the CEO of Cepsa,

Maarten Wetselaar

, to

sponsor

the largest renewable energy offensive to date.

With this initiative, Cepsa is heading its renewable transformation and carves out a niche in the hydrogen race, in which it competes with giants such as

Repsol, Iberdrola

or

Acciona

, which have also announced multi-million dollar investments in the heat of the fever that this energy vector has unleashed. , a clean fuel and still not profitable.

Cepsa's latest strategic plan, dubbed 'Positive motion', estimates investments of between

7,000 and 8,000 million euros

for the next 10 years,

60%

linked to the renewable business.

The project aspires to

obtain public funds

, inside and outside the Next Generation aid program.

Wetselaar took advantage of this Thursday's meeting to ask the Prime Minister for incentives for green investments and

prudence in tax reforms that affect the sector

, in clear allusion to the

Executive

's tax on the income of the giants of the energy business.

Decarbonize refineries

The new project consists of the construction of two new hydrogen generation plants with a capacity of

2 GW (2,000 MW)

to produce up to

300,000 tons

of this renewable gas in the company's energy enclaves in Campo de Gibraltar (Cádiz) and Palos. de la Frontera (Huelva).

Cepsa will take advantage of the hydrogen generated to

decarbonise its refineries

in the region, as well as to produce green ammonia and methanol.

The objective is to redirect the activity of the company's energy centers to the production of advanced biofuels for aviation (SAF) and heavy maritime and land transport.

According to company estimates, in short, the project will have the capacity to generate

10,000 jobs

, including direct, indirect and induced.

The presentation of the initiative was attended by Pedro Sánchez himself, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, the president of the Junta de Andalucía,

Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla

,.

Other personalities attended the event, such as the former president of Andalusia,

Susana Día, Gerardo Landaluce and Pilar Miranda,

presidents of the Ports of Algeciras and Huelva, and

Nico Van Dooren

, director of New Business at the Port of Rotterdam.

If successful, the 2 GW of generation of this renewable fuel projected by the company, one for each plant, would represent

50% of the green hydrogen production planned by the Government

for all of Spain in 2030.

This is a national and European milestone, which Cepsa has announced with the backing of the Government and the Junta de Andalucía.

The initiative is also a milestone in the green transformation of the oil company which, until now, had remained at the tail of its peers in terms of renewable production.

It is, in any case, a long-term project that will be developed in

several phases

.

The Huelva plant will be located next to the La Rábida Energy Park and will start up in 2026, reaching its maximum capacity in 2028;

The Cádiz facility will be in the San Roque Energy Park and will be operational in 2027, according to the calendar managed by the group.

From Cepsa they have specified that they are already working on the engineering and administrative processing of the project aimed at creating the

"Andalusian valley of green hydrogen"

.

To generate the renewable electricity necessary to produce this green hydrogen, the company must develop a project portfolio of

3,000 MW of wind and solar energy, which will mean 2,000 million

of the total investment.

They won't be enough to power all the machinery in this valley of hydrogen.

The company will also collaborate with clean energy producers already established in Andalusia and the rest of Spain.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more