Friday, March 29

Venture capital seeks to ally with energy companies in the race for green hydrogen


Renewables have become one of the most appreciated businesses by investors from all over the world, who have seen in the decarbonisation of the economy one of the best strategies to obtain large capital gains. Faced with the ‘boom’ of technologies such as wind or photovoltaic, the hydrogen it is still a niche to explore and develop, but it has already aroused the interest of different investors who expect it to become one of the green technologies of the future.

According to what different financial sources have indicated to El Periódico de España, a wide profile of venture capital investors are knocking on the door of the large energy companies to join forces with them to develop different initiatives related to green hydrogen.

At the moment, none of these approaches has resulted in a formal agreement, but the same sources indicate that the large companies they are increasingly willing to participate in this new adventure together with a financial investor that provides economic resources for this race for hydrogen.

In this sense, the most frequent profile is that of funds specialized in the infrastructure business, with a long-term investment approach and more modest returns than traditional venture capital funds. Currently, many Spanish energy companies are already backed by financial investors, such as Cepsa (Carlyle), Naturgy (IFM, CVC and GIC), Iberdrola (QIA and BlackRock), Exolum (CVC, Macquarie, Omers…), among others.

Extending these alliances to specific hydrogen development projects in Spain could be very beneficial for the country, according to the sources consulted, since the energy companies would have a new way to undertake important investments while sharing the risks together with another specialized partner in this business. In fact, the development of wind and photovoltaic energy in the country has taken a real quantitative and qualitative leap thanks to the arrival of venture capital, which has managed to create authentic platforms to promote green energy in Spain in recent years.

Repsol’s ‘megaproject’

In this race for hydrogen, Repsol hit the table this Wednesday with the presentation of its Spanish Hydrogen Network (Shyne) project, the largest national consortium to date for the development of this green technology, in which it participates along with 32 other companies and contemplates investments of more than 3,200 million euros. Among the objectives of the consortium, the ambition to reach an installed capacity of 500 MW in 2025 and 2 GW in 2030 stands out, which is half of the objective set in the Hydrogen Roadmap published by the Government, which contemplates reaching 4 GW of capacity in eight years.

“The launch of this energy initiative offers Spain the opportunity to play a very important role in Europe. We have technology and an industry prepared to become one of the reference countries in green hydrogen”, highlighted the CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, who advanced that they have identified projects that will be developed in ten autonomous communities and will generate more than 13,000 jobs “industrial, which are stable, better paid, of better quality and that generate technological ecosystems & rdquor ;. “Hydrogen is not competitive now, but recently other renewables were not and now they are. For this reason, public-private collaboration is essential & rdquor ;, added Imaz.

“The launch of this energy initiative offers Spain the opportunity to play a very relevant role in the European arena in green hydrogen,” said Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Repsol

Specific, This initiative will involve an investment of 2,250 million euros for Repsol, almost 90% of the Spanish energy company’s capex for green hydrogen until 2030. The company has made a titanic effort in recent times to completely transform its strategy, going from being an ordinary oil company to advancing in its commitment to new clean energies, through acquisitions or its own developments. “To achieve climate neutrality there is not just one path, there are many paths and renewable hydrogen appears as a clear path, the best solution in the future for heavy transport and industry & rdquor ;, completed the CEO of Repsol.

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Other well-known companies such as Alsa, Enagas, Talgo, Bosch, Celsa Group, Scania, Iberia, Navantia, Sidenor, Pymar, Sepi or Tubacex, among other. This initiative aims to generate an ecosystem that connects the large regional initiatives around hydrogen that are already being launched, such as the Basque Hydrogen Corridor (BH2C), the Hydrogen Valley of Catalonia and the Hydrogen Valley of the Region of Murcia. . In addition, SHYNE will promote the creation of two new innovation hubs in Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid.

In addition, a knowledge management center will also be created in the capital, which will coordinate transversal actions and position technology centers and universities as reference centers in Europe. For the Secretary General of Industry and SMEs, Raúl Blanco, “Spain has a unique opportunity and all the capacity to lead the industrial hydrogen value chain in Europe. For this, the SHYNE project is a great example & rdquor ;.



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