No further Sines project cancellations expected
Portugal’s overseas investment bureau AICEP and its industrial site management company AICEP Global Parques do not foresee any further green energy project cancellations after a green hydrogen project to export the gas from Sines – the H2Sines.Rdam was shelved.
That project had been cancelled because of a decision by the partner companies involved, which include Engie and Shell.
AICEP says it has not heard of any further pull outs and, according to the online news source ECO, EDP and Iberdrola, both of which have plans to produce green hydrogen in Sines, say they are still firmly committed to the project, although they have issued warnings over regulations — one of the reasons that H2Sines.Rdam was shelved.
“We don’t feel that companies are getting cold feet over green hydrogen investment intentions”, said Filipe Costa, President and CEO of AICEP Global Parques which manages government owned industrial parks in Portugal.
AICEP Global Parques has stated that the agency was informed within the deadlines stipulated in the contract.
Portugal has a number of renewable hydrogen projects slated for Sines through the GreenH2Atlantic project.
The wider project is led by a consortium of 13 companies and was selected by the European Commission as part of the Green Deal to develop a green hydrogen production site on a 100 MW scale in Sines.
Under the name GreenH2Atlantic, the renewable hydrogen production project in Sines will be developed by a consortium composed of companies such as EDP, Galp, ENGIE, Bondalti, Martifer, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, McPhy and Efacec, and academic and research partners such as ISQ, INESC-TEC, DLR and CEA, in addition to a public-private cluster, Axelera.
GreenH2Atlantic was one of the three projects selected by the Horizon 2020 – Green Deal Call to demonstrate the viability of green hydrogen production on an unprecedented scale. The €30 million grant will help finance the construction of the hydrogen plant, located in the now retired coal-fired power plant area in Sines. Construction started in 2023 and operation is expected to begin in 2025, subject to securing the necessary authorisations by the authorities.
The 100 MW electrolyser will be composed of innovative, scalable and fast-cycling 8 MW modules to overcome bottlenecks such as efficiency, size, lifetime and flexibility. Other innovative features include the interface system composed of an advanced management system which is required to enable the project’s direct connection to a local hybrid renewable power plant (solar and wind).
