Repsol to invest €15 million in green hydrogen at Sines
The Spanish energy company Repsol is to terminate all green hydrogen projects in Spain and divert them to Sines in Portugal where it will build a new electrolyser.
Reacting to the news, the Minister of the Economy, Pedro Reis said: “Spanish investment is very much welcome in Portugal. It is structural investment and is already in Portugal.”
Pedro Reis admits that he does not know if other Spanish companies will follow Repsol’s lead, but on the sidelines of the congress of Portuguese managers, this Tuesday, he stressed that “whether it is a top-up investment or a new investment, all foreign investment is important for us and, for the most part, Spanish investment is particularly interesting and complementary”.
The relocation of the electrolyser to Portugal and the suspension of a hydrogen investment portfolio in Spain were decided in protest against the Spanish Government’s decision to make an extraordinary tax levied in 2022 permanent. This “makes the regulatory environment not conducive to large industrial investments in the long term,” Repsol’s official source told the business daily ECO.
However, Portugal also has an extraordinary contribution tax on the energy sector (CESE), which has been charged since 2014, and which this year is expected to bring in about €125 million to state coffers. Despite initially being temporary, it has already been renewed for the 12th consecutive time.
In the State Budget proposal for 2025 the levy will raise €563 million from the Additional Property Tax (AIMI), the Extraordinary Contribution on the Banking Sector (CSB) and the Additional Solidarity Tax on the Banking Sector (ASSB). Asked by business daily ECO if Portugal would end its contribution tax to the energy sector, Pedro Reis said: “I’m not even going there.”