Portugal selects multi-billion post-coronavirus hydrogen projects

Martifer SGPS SA

28/07/2020 13:59

By Sergio Goncalves
    LISBON, July 28 (Reuters) - Portugal's government has
selected more than 30 multi-billion euro hydrogen projects
interested in building production units of so-called "green"
energy in the country after the coronavirus pandemic.
    The selection comes as Portugal prepares an application to
Europe's Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI)
scheme for hydrogen, part of a strategy to speed up renewable
hydrogen projects in polluting sectors.
    In a statement late on Monday, the environment ministry said
the government received 74 expressions of interest but only 37
projects, representing a total investment of around nine billion
euros, passed to the next phase. 
    More information will be required after this phase, and then
the final round of projects that will be part of the application
will be announced.
    Portugal's utility EDP-Energias de Portugal  EDP.LS , oil
group Galp  GALP.LS , holding company REN  RENE.LS  and others
announced they were one of the selected consortiums.
    They aim to create an industrial project for the production
of "green" hydrogen, a cleaner energy source than fossil fuels,
near Sines, south of Lisbon. 
    "The project has an important international dimension, both
for its export vocation and for the mobilisation of partners
with extensive experience in the hydrogen value chain," the
consortium said in a statement.
    In April, Environment Minister Joao Matos Fernandes told
Reuters Portugal wanted a greener post-coronavirus future,
aiming to build a solar-powered hydrogen unit near the port of
Sines, which would start in a year and could attract up to 5
billion euros of private investment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2CH7BX
    The goal is to extract "green" hydrogen from water using
electrolysis, an energy-intensive but carbon-free process if
powered by renewable electricity.
    However, a group of economists and energy experts signed a
manifesto last week against the government's hydrogen strategy,
warning it would cost double or triple more than to produce
energy using natural gas.

 (Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, Editing by Ed Osmond)
 ((sergio.goncalves@thomsonreuters.com; +351213509204; Reuters
Messaging: sergio.goncalves.reuters.com@reuters.net))