BY UE STUDIO
Updated Friday,2June2023-10:34
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World Environment Day, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, reminds us of the need to tune the engines that will take us in 2050 to a world free of greenhouse gas emissions. That's the goal and we're all involved.
The electrification of the economy represents one of the most efficient ways to achieve climate goals. But it is not a unique path. In fact, there are sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as industrial heat or heavy transport, which require other alternatives that are more suitable for their decarbonisation. Renewable gases, such as biomethane or hydrogen, may be the ideal solution for these cases, which are estimated to account for at least 40% of CO2 emissions.
The beneficial effect of the use of renewable gases is threefold: it helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions, reduces energy dependence from abroad because they are produced indigenously, and promotes the circular economy by contributing to sustainable waste management and generating employment in rural areas.
Biomethane, one of the keys to decarbonization
Biomethane has much to contribute to the transformation of the energy mix in the short term. But beyond this, this renewable gas is emerging as one of the great keys to move towards the decarbonization of the economy. The European Commission has reinforced its commitment to biomethane by extending the Community objective of its production for 2030 to 35,000 million cubic meters as set out in the REPowerEU Plan.
Spain can play an important role in this framework since it has a biomethane production potential of 163 Twh/year. A generation capacity that would cover around 54% of the national demand for natural gas. This is clear from the "Study of biomethane production capacity in Spain", prepared by the Spanish Gas Association, Sedigas, in collaboration with PwC and the specialized consultancy Biovic.
The realisation of Spain's biomethane production potential would also be an important boost to local socio-economic development. According to this study, it would entail the start-up of 2,326 specialized plants throughout the territory, with an estimated associated investment of 40,500 million euros – the equivalent of 3.6% of GDP – and the generation of about 62,000 jobs, between direct and indirect, associated with their operation and maintenance.
Naturgy is committed to the strategic value of biomethane
Since 2014, Naturgy, which has been developing innovative projects to understand and reduce production costs and promote the injection of renewable gases into the gas network, is a pioneer in the promotion of biomethane in Spain. The energy multinational is convinced of its strategic value in the energy transition and promotes its development throughout its entire value chain, from waste management and biogas production, to the distribution and marketing of biomethane.
Spain has biomethane generation capacity to cover more than 50% of national natural gas demand
Nedgia, the group's gas distributor, has more than 170 applications in its portfolio to inject a volume of renewable gas into its network of more than 6.5 TWh, a figure equivalent to the annual consumption of 1.3 million homes. In 2022, renewable gas distributed through four injection modules located in Catalonia, Castilla y León and Galicia shot up by 90%, reaching 35 GWh and avoiding the emission into the atmosphere of 7,400 tons of CO2. In addition, it is working on the construction of seven additional ones with which it will raise the supply capacity to 316 GWh soon.
The first biomethane plant that Naturgy started up is at the Bens wastewater treatment plant (A Coruña). The second facility, Elena, located in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), was thefirst to inject renewable gas from landfill into Spain's gas network.
This year the Vila-Sana plant will start producing renewable gas, which will become the third facility that the company operates commercially in Spain. The plant, located in the Porgaporcs livestock farm (Vila-Sana, Lleida), will generate biomethane to supply the equivalent annual consumption of 3,150 homes and will avoid the emission into the atmosphere of about 2,500 tons of CO2 per year, injecting 11.5 GWh / year into the gas distribution network.
Cleaner and more sustainable hydrogen, in Naturgy's focus
Renewable hydrogen, obtained through sustainable energy sources, is also part of the solution to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 set out in the European Green Deal. It is called to be a valuable energy vector (device or substance that has the capacity to store an energy that will later be released) for final uses in the hydrogen-intensive industry and high-temperature processes, long-distance heavy transport, maritime transport, rail transport or aviation. It offers great potential as an instrument for energy storage and sectoral integration.
Renewable hydrogen is destined to be a valuable energy vector for end uses in some industries and transport
After years of research, Naturgy is working on the development of large renewable hydrogen production hubs. Some of these initiatives are linked to Just Transition areas. The objective of these multi-demand hubs is to promote the development of new markets for direct consumption in industry, injection into the gas network for commercialization with guarantees of origin, mobility or production derived from hydrogen (ammonia, methanol, etc.).
This is the case of the alliance that Naturgy is promoting with Repsol and Reganosa to deploy a renewable hydrogen production hub in Galicia. The project includes the installation of an electrolysis plant powered by 100% renewable energy on the grounds of the old Meirama thermal power plant, in the municipality of Cerceda (A Coruña). It will produce more than 4,000 tons of renewable hydrogen per year in a first phase and will reach a total production of 30,000 tons per year.
On the other hand, Naturgy and Enagás presented last February their joint project for the largest green hydrogen plant in Spain, located in La Robla (León). The objective is to produce up to approximately 9,000 tons per year of renewable hydrogen, from a photovoltaic plant of 400 MW and an electrolyzer of up to 60 MW, to cover local consumption, injection into the gas network and enable future export to northwest Europe.
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