What’s going on in Mallorca? Updates from Green Hysland’s pilot

On the 22nd of June 2022, Green Hysland had the opportunity to host a session during the Iberian and Ibero-American Solar Energy (CIES) Congress, and to present our project concept in detail to some local stakeholders from the island.

The event was introduced by an impressive panel of speakers:

• Pep Malagrava – Energy Director at the Regional Government of the Balearic Islands;
• Victor Homar – First Vice-Rector for Research at the University of the Balearic Islands;
• Iñaki Miranda – CEMEX Social Impact Coordinator in the Balearic Islands;
• Lucas Villalba – Project manager in the Innovation department of Acciona Energy;
• María Jaén – General coordinator of the Green Hysland project from Enagás.

Next, partners presented the overview of the project’s pilot activities – how Green Hysland intends to produce at least 300 tons of green hydrogen from solar energy by building a green H2 plant in Lloseta, and how and where this green hydrogen is going to be distributed to the various applications: EMT bus depot for hydrogen buses, Maritime Station 4 of the Port of Palma, a sports centre in Lloseta, a hotel in Palma, a fleet of hydrogen vehicles and finally how it will be injected into the local gas grid network in Cas Tresorer. The solar energy used to produce the green hydrogen will come from two PV plants: one in Lloseta, right next to the H2 plant, and one in Petra, 30km away.

Participants also got an overview of the other activities of the project, namely the work on impact, business models, replication and communication. Colleagues from HEAVENN and BIG HIT presented these projects and their lessons learnt.

After the workshop, a visit to the Lloseta PV and H2 plant was organised, which allowed participants to see the progress made so far. The electrolyser and the compressor have already been purchased and are already on site, as visible on pictures.

Although the Green Hysland Consortium’s commitment to the European Commission is to have the renewable hydrogen ecosystem operational by 2024, we are working to accelerate the process and our goal is to make it a reality by 2023.

María Jaén, Green Hysland coordinator

On the next day, partners took the opportunity of their joint presence in Mallorca to organise meetings to review the progress made on the different tasks and make sure everything moves according to plan. In the afternoon, 3 additional site visits took place:

• Visit of the Maritime Station 4 and Port of Palma by Ports de Balears, to explain where the fuel cell will be placed and how it will be fixed to the current building;
• Visit of the gas grid pressure reducing station in Cas Tresorer blending station, where green H2 will be injected into the local distribution natural gas grid;
• Visit of the EMT bus depot which will soon welcome the newly purchased 5 green hydrogen buses and a Hydrogen Refueling Station – expected for the beginning of 2023.

You will find more information on all the pilot sites here.