UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and Masdar, the clean energy giant jointly owned by TAQA, Mubadala, and ADNOC, are supporting Southern Europe’s biggest green hydrogen center in Spain.
Spanish energy company Moeve, majority-owned by Mubadala, achieved Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project last week as a 51 percent stakeholder alongside Masdar and Enalter (majority owned by Enagas Renovable) as minority partners.
Moeve’s press statement reported that the first phase of 300 megawatt (MW), dubbed Onuba, Moeve invested more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion), including associated infrastructure and the development of a photovoltaic plant.
Phase 1 incorporates an option to increase by 100 MW, which is included as long as further grid capacity and board approval are obtained.
Construction timeline details were not announced, but Moeve stated that the FID has been approved by the Board of Directors to commence construction within the next few weeks.
Onuba will be capable of generating approximately 45,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually at 300 MW, preventing approximately 250,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
The green hydrogen produced at the plant will serve aviation, road, and marine transport fuels, as well as providing energy to decarbonise the chemical and fertiliser industries.
Onuba is the pioneer of the green hydrogen production facilities that will form part of Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, and it will be situated in Palos de la Frontera Energy Park (Huelva). The second plant will be located in the San Roque Energy Park (Cádiz).
The European Commission has designated the initiative as a Project of Common European interest (PCI), and it has been allocated €304 million by the Government of Spain as a part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and has been funded by the European Union Next Generation EU scheme through the Hydrogen Valleys scheme to develop 400 MW of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley.
