'Impossible to keep track': Spain's gamble on green hydrogen
Major green energy projects are sprouting up across Spain as it seeks to position itself as a future green energy leader—but experts have urged caution over costs and demand uncertainty.
Spanish firms are ramping up production of emissions-free fuel and ploughing investment into green energy projects, despite fears over the high price of production.
"Everything is going very fast," said Miguel Angel Fernandez, technical director at the Spanish National Hydrogen Centre, a public research centre based in central Spain.
"There are so many projects, it is impossible to keep track of them all."
Most hydrogen is currently produced using polluting fossil fuels but so-called "green hydrogen" is made entirely using renewable energy such as wind, solar and hydropower.
While fossil fuels emit harmful greenhouse gases when they burn, hydrogen only emits water vapour.
Madrid launched a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7-billion) plan in in 2021 to support green hydrogen projects, using a European Union Covid recovery fund.
Spain is now home to 20 percent of the world's green hydrogen projects—second only to the United States.
Last year Spanish energy giant Iberdrola started operating what it says is the largest green hydrogen plant for industrial use in Europe, in the former mining town of Puertollano.
Madrid wants to ramp up production of emissions-free fuel like green hydrogen.