The green hydrogen revolution has started at EDP’s thermal power station in Ribatejo
With a total budget of 12.6 million euros (10 million from the European Union and 2.1 million from EDP), the project officially started on April 6th.
The green hydrogen production is already taking its first steps in Portugal. After being announced by EDP at the end of last year, the pilot project for hydrogen production at the Ribatejo Combined Cycle Power Station “officially started at the beginning of April,” confirmed Miguel Patena, Director of Innovation, Technology and International Development of EDP Produção, to ECO.
With a total budget of 12.6 million euros (10 million from the European Union and 2.1 million from EDP), the project will last four years (until 2024) and “is part of EDP’s strategy to seek low carbon generation solutions from an integrated energy perspective that will include both electrification of consumption and production of fuels that do not emit greenhouse gases,” he explained.
In the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the State of Emergency decreed in Portugal, this project started on April 6th and goes by the name of FLEXnCONFU – Flexibilize combined cycle powerplant through Power-to-X solutions using non-conventional fuels. It will be demonstrated in Portugal, Italy and the United Kingdom, but involves an international consortium led by EDP and formed by 21 partners from 10 countries.
“We have high expectations around this project, but we are aware of the responsibilities. In a first phase, it will be necessary to gain experience in the hydrogen production and its reconversion into electricity to later, through an in-depth analysis of the hydrogen value chain, study the most favorable applications and business models in order to achieve the carbon neutrality goals by 2050,” said Miguel Patena.
EDP’s ambitions for green hydrogen also go through the mega industrial unit that the Government is designing for Sines, in partnership with the Netherlands and with the involvement of EDP, Galp and REN. Already classified as “the largest industrial project after April 25th” by the Secretary of State for Energy, João Galamba, the national strategy for green hydrogen was on a right track, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding scheduled for March, but was eventually postponed because of the new coronavirus. To Jornal de Negócios, the Government confirmed that the project still stands, but any additional steps will be postponed at least until June.
