Plug Power and ACCIONA Energía have presented to the Government of Navarra (Spain) their Valle H2V Navarra joint project to build an industrial-scale, green H₂ production plant in Rocaforte, Sangüesa.

The project, currently in the development stage, involves the construction of a 25-MW electrolyzer on the land plots adjacent to the Sangüesa biomass plant. The electrolyzer will be powered by hybrid renewable energy produced at a photovoltaic plant (25 MW) and a wind farm (24 MW), both newly built facilities that are under development.

The plans of Plug and ACCIONA Energía entail a total associated investment of €87 MM, and the creation of over 500 direct, indirect, and induced jobs during the construction of the plant.

Once built, the plant will reach a total production of 3,880 tpy of green H₂. The aim is to use 90% of the green H₂ production for consumption by the main energy-intensive industries in the area, such as paper, glass, steel, food and automotive, contributing to their decarbonization and the reduction of their CO₂ emissions, including Plug’s customers in material handling, stationary power, and on-road mobility applications. The remaining 10% will be used for the transport sector through the installation of a H₂ station at the same location.

The project envisages the possibility to expand the H₂ plant in the future, depending on the evolution of demand, to double the initially planned power (50 MW) of electrolysis.

Several representatives from the Navarra Government attended the presentation, including the President, María Victoria Chivite, the Regional Minister of Economic and Business Development Mikel Irujo, and the General Director of Industry, Uxue Itoiz. In addition, the Mayor of Sangüesa Lucía Echegoyen, and the President of the Rocaforte Council María Eugenia Pérez, participated too. Representing the project was the Chairman of ACCIONAPLUG and CEO of ACCIONA Energía, Rafael Mateo, the CEO of ACCIONAPLUG, Alan Ripa, and the European Sales Director for the Applications Business unit of Plug, Alasdair Leapman.

The President of Navarra, María Chivite, announced during the meeting that the regional government is declaring the Valle H2V Navarra project an investment of interest for the region at its session tomorrow. This will speed up its processing and development. She also highlighted the strategic nature of this project, not only because of the investment and the jobs created, but also because it will provide clean energy to the industrial ecosystem of the region, where there are companies that are large consumers of energy, and because it will place Sangüesa on the innovation map.

The project brings together all the key elements of the green H₂ value chain: renewable energy generation, production infrastructure, storage and distribution of green H₂. At this time, it will be one of the largest H₂ plants commissioned in Europe.

"Valle H2V Navarra was created with the objective of being the first operational green H₂ generation plant at industrial scale in Navarra, and to give a qualitative and quantitative boost to the decarbonization of the industry in the region," said Rafael Mateo, Chairman of ACCIONAPLUG and CEO of ACCIONA Energía. "In addition, this project is of particular interest thanks to its scalability and replicability, as it will provide an operational example of the contribution of green H₂ in the energy transition."

The Valle H2V Navarra project plans to start generating green H₂ by the end of 2024, thus enabling the government of Navarra to comply with the Navarra Green H₂ Agenda, a roadmap for the development of a green H₂ ecosystem, which foresees the installation of between 10 MW and 30 MW of production by 2024 and 150 MW by 2030 in the region.