EDP has presented to the mayor of Carreño, Amelia Fernández, the state in which the transformation project of the plant of Aboño is currently. The main novelty, and proof that it is a realistic and mature project, is the beginning of the environmental processing for the first phase of 150 MW of electrolyzers in the site, which will entail an investment of more than 200 million euros.

The director of Development and Execution of Hydrogen Projects of EDP, Rafael Cabañeros, has presented the progressions in the initiative of the energy company in the city council of Carreño. The development of hydrogen projects in the site contemplates two main phases. The first, of 150 MW, which is in the environmental processing, that the company would be launching between the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026; and a second phase of 350 MW, in which it would a total capacity of 500 MW of electrolyzers would be reached in the site, that would develop according to the market conditions.

The goal is to produce green hydrogen, which electricity supply will come from renewable energy generation plants. Green hydrogen, produced by electrolysis from water molecules and renewable energy, presents itself as a key energy vector to achieve the decarbonization of sectors with a hard electrification, and as a green raw material for the manufacturing of, for example, fertilizers.

During the meeting, the mayor of Carreño, Amelia Fernández, has pointed out that “from the city council of Carreño, we really appreciate EDP’s decarbonization process in our council, because of what it entails to maintain an entrepreneurial activity and doing it in a sustainable way. It is a progress to be able to maintain staff, create new qualifications linked to the hydrogen development and keep an important economic activity in Carreño.”

For his part, Rafael Cabañeros has underlined that “in EDP we work in a realistic project to transform our thermal power plants with the strong aim of leading the energy transition in a fair an inclusive way, without leaving anyone behind, with initiatives like the one we want to develop in Aboño, a mature project that has a pull effect in economy, and a positive local impact, and that will generate quality employments.”

EDP leads the European map of green hydrogen. The project of the company to transform Aboño into the Asturian valley of green hydrogen has been considered by the European Commission as strategic for the energy transition, labeling it as an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI Hy2Use). Moreover, it is one of the contractor initiatives for aids by the IDAE (Institute for the Diversification and the Energy Saving), within the PERTE (Strategic Projects for Recuperation and Economic Transformation) of renewable energies, renewable hydrogen and storage (ERHA), belonging to the program of Pioneer Projects and Value Chain.

EDP, that keeps its strong ambition of abandoning coal production in 2025, has a realistic project to transform its thermal power plants into ‘green hubs’, linked to four energy sector: green hydrogen, energy storage, renewable energies and flexibility of the electric system.