Green Hysland in Mallorca, the first green hydrogen project in a Mediterranean country due to get European funding

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) of the European Commission has selected the project Green Hysland in the Balearic Islands to start negotiations for an EU grant agreement valued at 10 million EUR what would constitute the second largest grant by this European Commission body to a green hydrogen project and the largest grant ever offered to a Mediterranean country.

In line with the new EU Hydrogen Strategy, Green Hysland will be the first Southern European Flagship project and it will create a ‘green hydrogen ecosystem’ in the Balearic Islands. Green Hysland will generate, distribute and use at least 300 tonnes of renewable hydrogen locally per year, produced from solar energy on the island of Mallorca. The project is also part of the "Hydrogen Road Map: a commitment to renewable hydrogen" recently approved by the Spanish Government, which will boost Spain as a technological benchmark in the production and use of renewable hydrogen, with a production capacity of 4 GW by 2030 and an estimated total investment of 8.9 billion EUR.

Green hydrogen will have multiple applications on the island, including the fuel supply to a fleet of fuel cell buses and fuel cell rental vehicles, the generation of heat and power for commercial and public buildings, the supply of auxiliary power for ferries and port operations and the creation of a hydrogen refuelling station. The project includes green hydrogen injection into the island's gas pipeline network, through a Guarantee of Origin System, to decarbonise the gas supply. The initiative requires a total investment of around 50 million EUR, including renewable electricity generation and equipment for green hydrogen end uses.

The estimated duration for the Green Hysland project will be from 2021 to 2025 and will aim to reduce the CO2 emissions of Mallorca up to 20,700 tonnes per year by the end of the project.

Spanish Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen: Spain is in a position to take advantage of all the potential associated with renewable hydrogen, which will not only be key in achieving climate neutrality, but also represents an interesting lever for generating employment and economic activity. Now is the time to go down this path, and projects like this, which are also scalable to other island environments in our country, represent an excellent opportunity.

The Vice-president and Minister of Energy Transition and Productive Sectors of the Balearic Government, Juan Pedro Yllanes: It is essential to involve the public sector in these types of projects, which will be key to the economic reconstruction not only for our Autonomous Community but also of the State. In addition, this project will not only promote reindustrialization based on renewables, but will also provide knowledge, research and innovation. It is a milestone that the Balearic Islands must take advantage of in order to promote the diversification of the production model with new, stable and quality jobs.

Bart Biebuyck, Executive Director, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking: As part of the FHC 2 JU Call 2020 we were highly pleased to see the enormous interest of European islands in developing Hydrogen ecosystems. We are currently preparing the Grant Agreement of the Green Hysland project in the island of Mallorca and are looking forward to working together with such a strong consortium. Green Hysland would be the first Hydrogen Valley in a European Island and would showcase the ability of Hydrogen to decarbonise islands at an unprecedented scale.

Antonio Llardén, President of Enagás: projects like Green Hysland are a sign of the importance of coordination and cooperation to advance in the decarbonisation process. Thanks to the 30 entities that are part of the consortium, the entire value chain is represented in the project, which ensures both the deployment of infrastructure for the production of green hydrogen and its use in final applications.

The press release is available here.