MADRID, 9 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -
Iberdrola will build the first green ammonia plant in southern Europe that will be viable thanks to European funds and will involve an investment of 750 million euros, the company has reported, which has not yet detailed the country of location.
The operation is part of the framework agreement signed by the energy company with Trammo, the world's largest maritime marketer and distributor of anhydrous ammonia, which represents the largest green ammonia framework agreement in Europe to date for the sale of up to 100,000 tons of ammonia per year green from 2026.
Iberdrola is currently developing green ammonia and methanol plants in Europe, the United States, Australia and other countries and this first plant means consolidating a global growth strategy in green hydrogen and its derivative products.
The construction of the first green ammonia plant will generate up to 3,500 jobs, occupied mostly by local workers. In addition, during its operation and maintenance phase the project will create more than 50 jobs.
The green ammonia plant will be linked to the construction of 500 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy, since the green ammonia will meet all the requirements demanded by Europe.
In addition, it will contribute to the creation of industrial and innovation opportunities in a growing market, with a high export component, explains Iberdrola.
The green ammonia production from the plant will be bought and sold by Trammo to decarbonize various energy-intensive heavy industries across the continent, such as the Netherlands, Germany or France.
This project aims to launch the European green hydrogen corridor. Southern Europe has great renewable potential that allows it to supply competitive green energy to decarbonize heavy industry, high energy consumption that is difficult to reduce from its European partners.
"When you bring together one of the world's largest renewable energy developers and the world's largest maritime trader of anhydrous ammonia, innovative projects like this can quickly become viable. For a year now, we have been operating the largest green hydrogen plant in Europe, which gives us the experience and understanding of the processes and technology to quickly scale up to these larger projects," says Millán García-Tola, Iberdrola's global director of Green Hydrogen.
"Reducing the emissions of the industry linked to green ammonia is a challenge for the coming years in which Iberdrola wants to get involved with real projects to develop a more sustainable production chain and achieve decarbonization objectives. We are already in talks with Trammo to see similar projects in other markets" added García-Tola.
Green ammonia can be used in the decarbonization of existing applications, such as fertilizer production or chemical industries.
In addition, enormous market growth is expected in new uses of this product, for example, as marine fuel or to make the transport of green hydrogen viable.
This last use is essential for saving water, since green hydrogen allows us to reduce the consumption of water used by more than 40% compared to a gray ammonia plant.
Iberdrola, with 40 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy installed worldwide, has the ambition of doubling its current portfolio to 80 GW by 2030.
The company became a pioneer in the production of green hydrogen with three plants in operation by 2023 and the largest electrolyser in Europe (20 MW) at its Puertollano plant in Spain.
Iberdrola is developing more than 60 hydrogen projects in 8 countries, including green ammonia and green methanol in geographies such as Iberia, the United States or Australia.
As the world's largest maritime trader with a leading global position in trading and distributing anhydrous ammonia since 1965, Trammo plays an active role in the transition to decarbonise the industrial sector, helping to make significant volumes of ammonia available to market. green in 2035.
