{"id":116408,"date":"2021-06-14T15:44:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T15:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=116408"},"modified":"2021-06-14T15:44:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T15:44:14","slug":"portugals-galp-moves-to-green-hydrogen-at-refinery-eyes-1-2-billion-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/portugals-galp-moves-to-green-hydrogen-at-refinery-eyes-1-2-billion-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal's Galp moves to green hydrogen at refinery, eyes $1.2 billion investment"},"content":{"rendered":"
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal\u2019s Galp Energia plans to install a 100-megawatt electrolyzer to power its refinery in Sines with green hydrogen by 2025, a project which could be expanded to up to 1,000 MW and be worth 1 billion euros ($1.21 billion), Chief Executive Andy Brown said on Monday.<\/p> He told Reuters in an interview that the refinery, located south of Lisbon, was Portugal\u2019s biggest consumer of hydrogen from natural gas, but Galp wanted to gradually produce the zero-carbon fuel through a process of electrolysis using renewable solar energy.<\/p>\n Such hydrogen is now more expensive to extract than the heavily polluting conventional method of using heat and chemical reactions to release it from coal or natural gas, known as brown and grey hydrogen, respectively.<\/p>\n But Brown said \u201cbecause of the cost of gas and the cost of CO2, at a certain point it can be profitable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very exciting opportunity, we think we can profitably replace that hydrogen with green hydrogen,\u201d he said, adding that Galp should invest \u201cbetween 100 million to 200 million euros in the first 100 MW by 2025\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTo fully convert the refinery to green hydrogen that will be closer to 1 billion euros \u2013 these are big investments,\u201d he said, adding that much still depended on whether Europe and Portugal give the right incentives for such renewable fuels.<\/p>\n Galp will be able to produce green ammonia or synthetic fuels, and as the project gains scale it could also sell green hydrogen to transport companies or highly polluting industries such as steel or cement manufacturing.<\/p>\n In a revised strategic plan though 2025, Galp said two weeks ago it would sharpen its focus on green energy and limit fossil fuel spending to already approved developments, channelling 30% of its capital expenditure towards renewables.<\/p>\n The CEO said the Amorim family, which controls a holding company that owns around 33% of Galp, \u201cseems to be very supportive of what were doing\u201d in terms of the strategic focus.<\/p>\n ($1 = 0.8251 euros)<\/p>\n