In La Robla, Enagás Renovable and Naturgy have presented the project for the construction of a renewable H₂ plant with a production capacity of up to 280 MW.

This new plant, scheduled to start up in 2026 and with an estimated investment of €485 MM, will be located on the site of Naturgy’s former thermal power plant, which was authorized to close in 2020 and is currently in the process of being decommissioned. Enagás Renovable and Naturgy have set up the joint venture Robla Hub to carry out the project.

At the event, the Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen, stressed that “the development of renewable H₂ is a key tool in the just transition and this in turn constitutes a vector for reindustrialization in this area.”

The CEO of Enagás Renovable, Antón Martínez, emphasized that “this project reinforces our commitment to the energy transition and will support the decarbonization of industries in the area, which will also be able to benefit from the efficiencies generated by the increase in production capacity.”

For her part, Silvia Sanjoaquín, Director of New Businesses at Naturgy, pointed out the opportunities that the new green H₂ project in La Robla will generate in the region and Spain’s potential in the promotion of renewable gases. “This project will allow the development of renewable H₂ production, promoting a quantum leap to develop economies of scale and improve competitiveness,” she explained.

The development of the renewable H₂ production plant in La Robla will be associated with the start-up of a solar photovoltaic generation project comprising various farms located in neighboring municipalities, with a total capacity of around 450 MWp. Although the maximum capacity of the renewable H₂ production plant was initially set at 60 MW, the existence of potential industrial consumers in the area and the proximity to the future H₂ pipeline backbone will allow the electrolysis capacity to be increased to 280 MW.

The new sizing of the H₂ production plant will achieve economies of scale, reducing the production costs of renewable H₂ and thus increasing the competitive advantages of the consuming companies. In addition, the project is eligible for the different calls for applications for subsidies available at national and European level for the development of renewable H₂.

The renewable H₂ production plant in La Robla will prevent the emission of more than 430,000 tpy of CO₂ into the atmosphere, contributing to the decarbonization of industrial processes and the development of sustainable mobility.

The project also seeks to be a vector for local development, supporting the decarbonization of activities in the area, for which it has several potential consumers in industry, such as the Cementos Tudela Veguín factory in La Robla. Sustainable mobility actions are also planned in the autonomous community, such as those promoted by the company Alsa for intercity lines in the province.

This renewable project is aligned with the decarbonization targets of the European Union, Spain’s renewable H₂ roadmap of the Just Transition Strategy, and the recent RePowerEU Plan to promote energy independence in the European Union.