Hydrogen is an integral part of a complete green portfolio
Smartenergy has developed a substantial pipeline of green hydrogen projects for the industry and mobility sectors, including aviation.
Christian Pho Duc
Chief Technology Officer at Smartenergy
After identifying hydrogen as the missing part in its renewable energy portfolio in 2019, Smartenergy has been forging new partnerships and engaging in the development of green hydrogen projects.
When we started to experience negative prices in the electricity market at the end of 2010, we thought it was a good idea to add hydrogen generation to our renewable projects where suitable to mitigate the risk of electricity price volatility. Since our initial motivation in 2019, the world has changed dramatically, and the ambitions and expectations for hydrogen have exploded. We assume that up 30% of global decarbonization can be achieved through green hydrogen. In particular, to reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.
Smartenergy is a Swiss-based investment and developer company dedicated to identifying, developing, and delivering green energy assets. We have developed a substantial pipeline of green hydrogen projects for the industry and mobility sectors, including aviation.
Clean energy is our entry point into the hydrogen ecosystem. As such, our strength lies in the development of decentralized and directly connected hydrogen projects in full compliance with the additionality criteria. Electricity is the key lever for the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). For this reason, we started our projects in the Iberian Peninsula, where we already have a GW-scale solar PV portfolio. We are currently expanding into further European markets such as Italy and Germany.
Investments to produce green hydrogen and derivatives require long-term partnerships. For us, it is essential to create partnerships that bring together the private and public sectors to open markets and support to create hydrogen valleys with complete ecosystems, including legacy and new hydrogen off-takers.
An example is our ORANGE.BAT project, sized at 100MW, which aims to support the decarbonization of the ceramic cluster of Castellón in the Valencian Community of Spain. It is one the leading ceramic clusters in Europe, having a strategic relevance for Spain in terms of economic, social and labour impact, but contributes to over 40% of GHG emissions in the region.
In cooperation with ETRA I+D, the national ceramic associations (ASCER and ANFFECC) and with the support of the regional government, we set up the ORANGE.BAT project with the most relevant stakeholders, including small and medium-sized ceramic companies, technology and research centers, and neighboring ports.
Such projects, along with the capability of hydrogen to be stored as energy vector and feedstock long-term to overcome the seasonal challenge, fully unleash the potential of renewables to the next level. This goes in line with our strategy of being fully committed to the energy transition.
