15 FEB 2022

Iberdrola's green hydrogen plant in Barcelona's Zona Franca is the first in Spain to be certified

  • Control and Inspection Services (SCI) has carried out the initial regulatory inspection of the first phase of the green hydrogen refuelling station.
  • The favourable report makes Iberdrola's hydrogen plant for fleet recharging the first to be certified in Spain.

Control and Inspection Services (SCI) has carried out the initial regulatory inspection of the first phase of the green hydrogen service station that IBERDROLA has built in Barcelona's Zona Franca, obtaining a favourable report. The ISO-19880-1:2020 standard, which is mandatory, establishes the minimum safety conditions to be met by these facilities and Iberdrola has already achieved it. 

At the end of January 2022, the hydrogen production facility was commissioned and the first refuelling of a hydrogen fuel cell bus from the fleet acquired by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) was carried out. The absence of polluting emissions from this type of vehicle, as they only emit water vapour, as well as their low noise level, will mean that their use will substantially improve environmental conditions in urban environments.

This hydrogen plant, owned by IBERDROLA, is the first commercial renewable hydrogen production and dispensing facility in Spain. This plant, with the capacity to supply the TMB bus fleet and other vehicle fleets, is part of Iberdrola's Green Hydrogen strategy, which includes other projects such as the alliance with Fertiberia in Puertollano, as well as the Green Hydrogen Cluster Puerta de Europa in Andalusia, which includes more than 80 companies".

For Miguel Pérez, Technical Director of SCI, this certification "is a promising and necessary first step towards carbon dioxide-free transport systems".

For Pedro Mª Aranguren, Iberdrola's project manager, the start-up of this facility means that the commercialisation of green hydrogen in Spain is now a reality thanks to the first production of this energy vector in an Iberdrola project. "Thanks to the collaboration of pioneering and forward-looking companies, we have before us today a tangible and scalable example of a clean solution for heavy mobility. Green hydrogen is the perfect complement to electrification for the global decarbonisation of the economy, and we are proud to be pioneers and to have our validation according to ISO-19880-1:2020," he says.

The train will also run on this green hydrogen

Iberdrola and the CAF group (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) have also formed an alliance to promote the use of green hydrogen in the railway sector and in passenger transport, which will also use this hydrogen plant in the Zona Franca. This alliance was born out of the conviction of both companies to offer comprehensive sustainable mobility solutions, ranging from the supply of rolling stock and refuelling infrastructure to green hydrogen production plants and renewable energy infrastructures.

The objective is also to develop the renewable hydrogen value chain with the highest standards of safety, technology and competitiveness in environments such as the railway sector and passenger transport, helping to drive local companies to develop the technology and production capacity to drive the transformation of the sector in Spain and compete in the international market.