Two months after announcing its intention to turn to renewables, the Spanish oil giant has for the first time formed a technological tie-up that integrates a partner into the company’s value chain.
Oil company Repsol has announced it will team up with Spanish energy company and European transmission system operator Enagás to produce renewable hydrogen. (Marcelino Oreja, MD of Enagás, and Josu Jon Imaz, his Repsol counterpart pictured above) Repsol said the partnership will further develop a process of producing hydrogen using solar energy, with the initial phase of the system developed at the Repsol Technology Center.
Compared to traditional methods of making the gas, the new process would have a carbon footprint up to 90% smaller, the company claims. “Repsol will be able to use the renewable hydrogen obtained through this new method in its refining processes in order to produce cleaner fuels and reduce the presence of sulfur, as well as in its chemicals business, as part of conventional processes such as rubber hydrogenation,” the company stated.
The oil company specified it has already registered three patent families, two of which have been granted in Europe, as a result of the development of the process, and also has 52 scientific collaboration agreements with institutions across the world. Enegás was highlighted as the perfect partner for development of the new technology, as it already has a development strategy for non-electrical renewable energy sources such as hydrogen and biogas/biomethane.
The Spanish oil giant announced in May it would enter the renewable energy business. At the time, the company stressed gas was still considered one of the main pillars of the energy transition, as Repsol said it ensured a safer power supply than intermittent renewables.
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