The Government approves the largest Perte to promote hydrogen and renewables

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, will present this coming Wednesday the PERTE that will integrate the innovative renewable energy, storage and renewable hydrogen projects.

The Government has summoned the energy sector to launch this measure, one of the star areas of the Recovery and Resilience Plan that foresees that around 30% of the funds that will arrive from Europe will be destined to decarbonization projects.

The Executive picks up with this announcement the witness that will be put on the table between today and tomorrow by the European Commission with the presentation of the second part of the Fit for 55 package that focuses on the promotion of hydrogen and renewable gases at a time when natural gas prices and CO emission rights₂ are setting record prices.

The intention of the Executive, which will approve this PERTE in the Council of Ministers, is to unify the expressions of interest received in a single strategic project.

Ecological Transition has launched a total of six on renewable hydrogen, electric mobility, energy storage or innovative renewables. For innovative renewable energies, two Expressions of Interest have been presented and it has been the area where more proposals have been received, specifically, more than a thousand including projects of environmental integration of renewables, value chain and innovative technologies. Open calls for grants and subsidies will be made, although for offshore projects and others with less mature technologies, the possibility of entering the capital of certain companies or making participatory loans will be assessed.

In the case of renewable hydrogen, the Government received a total of 502 projects. The most frequent typologies are those that affect the value chain (55%) and pioneering projects (25%) while another 20% focuses on the so-called hydrogen valleys to incorporate this energy into large polygons or industrial areas. The approximate investment volume of the projects presented is 10,000 million euros, higher than the investment foreseen in the Hydrogen Roadmap.

Based on the lessons learned, the IDAE plans open calls for grants and subsidies, but will also use public-private collaboration formulas, including the entry into the share capital of certain companies after an open call, participatory loans and even pre-commercial public procurement in the case of prototypes.

With regard to expressions of interest on electric mobility, 539 proposals were submitted. The most frequent typologies included those related to innovation and the renewal of the vehicle fleet. The planned amounts foresee the mobilization of an approximate investment volume of 32,000 million euros, of which 68% of the projects were promoted by companies and 24% by the public sector. Investments will be articulated mainly through competitive aid and subsidies.

Local projects

Ecological Transition also advances in the identification of projects of local energy communities. In this area, 459 proposals were received, 75% of which combine renewable generation with energy efficiency or mobility. 22% of the projects are located in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, which makes them an opportunity to also address the demographic challenge.

With regard to sustainable energy projects on the islands, Ecological Transition brought together 712 proposals from regional, island and local organizations, private entities and civil society.

The PERTE are approved by the Council of Ministers. So far, the Executive has given the green light to the development of the electric and connected vehicle with an amount of 3,000 million euros. Its central axis is the creation of the ecosystem necessary for the development and manufacture of electric vehicles by promoting the automotive industry to respond to the new sustainable and connected mobility and the generation of new activities.

The Executive will also promote the program for cutting-edge health, endowed with 1,469 million. It is intended to improve the health of the population through diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive innovation in the Health System, which in turn will promote the generation of industrial fabric and job creation.

The Government is also working on the approval of the aerospace Perte, the agri-food chain and the Spanish language.

Source: The Economist