LatemAluminium and Enagás have signed an agreement for the development of a pioneering green hydrogen industrial project in Spain, through which they will promote two green hydrogen production plants in Castilla y León, one in LatemAluminium’s factory in Villadangos del Páramo (León), and the other in its plant in Villabrázaro (Zamora). The project will allow a renewable energy self-consumption in the industrial process of aluminium manufacturing in these plants.
This initiative, which will have an initial installed capacity of 2.6 MW in both plants, is in line with the decarbonisation goals of the two companies.
From left to right: Macario Fernández, Executive Chairman of LatemAluminium, and Marcelino Oreja, CEO of Enagás.
According to Marcelino Oreja, CEO of Enagás, “the role of leading companies in their sector such as LatemAluminium is essential to promote the consumption of green hydrogen as a real alternative for the decarbonisation of industry”, and he explains that “this project will serve as a benchmark for other industrial players that want to advance in the energy transition”. Along these lines, Marcelino Oreja recalled that Enagás is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2040, to which end it has already reduced its emissions by 63% since 2014, and explained that the company is promoting 55 renewable gas projects – 34 green hydrogen and 21 biomethane – , with more than 50 partners.
In the words of Macario Fernández, CEO of LatemAluminium, “we are very pleased with the signing of this agreement”, and said that “it is the confirmation of the pioneering steps we are taking in our company, in this case together with Enagás, to consolidate the production of green aluminium in our two plants, which confirms LatemAluminium’s commitment to sustainability in all its aspects through decarbonisation and the production of green hydrogen”. It is estimated that the first renewable hydrogen production plant will be operational between the end of 2022 and early 2023 (Villadangos del Páramo) and the second during 2023 (Villabrázaro).
This agreement also contemplates that the two companies will promote a consortium of several companies to develop an R&D&I project to determine the admissible ranges for utilisation of green hydrogen as an alternative fuel in the molten aluminium production process.
