'Europe's largest' | Solar developer plans giant 800MW green hydrogen-to-methanol plant
Ansasol intends to produce one million tonnes of renewable methanol by 2029
A German-Spanish solar and renewable hydrogen developer has unveiled plans to build a massive 800MW green hydrogen-to-methanol plant in southern Spain producing one million tonnes per year of green methanol by 2029.
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Ansasol intends to have the first phase of the MetGreenPort plant in the Port of Huelva producing 150,000 tonnes of green methanol from renewable hydrogen — and carbon dioxide sourced from nearby industries — by 2027.
But it then plans to increase the size of MetGreenPort by more than a factor of six within two years, scaling up to one million tonnes by 2029 with a total electrolysis capacity of 800MW, which would make it by far the biggest green methanol project in Europe.
The methanol would be made with renewable hydrogen produced at the plant — with an implied electrolyser size of about 120MW for the first phase.
Nor is it clear whether the carbon molecule needed to make methanol from green hydrogen will be biogenic (ie, sourced from biomass), which has a bearing on whether green methanol produced at the plant would qualify as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) and therefore be eligible for EU subsidies.
The EU’s Delegated Acts on RFNBOs only permit the use of industrial-process carbon in synthetic fuels until 2041, around 14 years into the lifetime of the plant.
The company won the right in February to build the plant on a 100,000-square-metre plot in the port of Huelva in Andalusia, as part of a competitive process.
Ansasol and Hydron’s subsidiary Sunna Solar will be tasked with developing the plant, which is the second major green methanol scheme announced for the Port of Huelva in the past six months.
Methanol is a base chemical used in vast array of processes and products, but it is also touted for use as a fuel, especially in the shipping industry.
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