Portuguese cement and glass companies green hydrogen consortium

Portugal's three main glass producers and two biggest cement makers, together accounting for 10% of the country's industrial carbon emissions, on Tuesday said they had joined a new consortium to launch a green hydrogen plant.
The consortium, named Nazare Green Hydrogen Valley (NGHV), is led by Portugal-based renewable gas producer Rega Energy and includes cement companies Cimpor and Secil, plus glassmakers BA Glass, Crisal and Vidrala, NGHV said in a statement.

The five produce more than 1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, equivalent to 2.5% of Portugal's total CO2 emissions.

Portugal, in line with European guidelines, aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with an intermediate goal of reducing emissions by between 45% and 55% from 2005 levels by 2030.

So-called green hydrogen, produced using electricity from renewable sources such as solar, is seen as a key power source that can reduce pollution from long-haul heavy transport and the cement, steel and glass industries.

"This is the largest-scale project of this nature to be launched in Portugal," NGHV said. "By decarbonising these companies, it will cut a significant share of total carbon emissions by industry nationwide."

The consortium will develop the green hydrogen plant with an initial installed capacity of 40 megawatts (MW), which is expected to increase to up to 600 MW, it added.

The plant will be in central Portugal where the cement companies and glassmakers have their factories. The consortium expects to start installing the infrastructure by 2023 and bring it on stream by the end of 2025.
The group will also invest an estimated more than 100 million euros ($113 million) in retrofitting existing industrial processes to become carbon neutral, a figure that is expected to rise over time.

Water utility Aguas do Centro Litoral (ACL) and natural gas distribution company GGND are also part of the consortium.

Excess hydrogen not consumed by the consortium's factories can be injected into GGND's grid to feed other industries, it said.

ACL will supply waste water to the electrolysis plant, which will use solar energy to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen.