Francesco Sassi, 21 Oct 2024, eklipX Research
Spanish energy giant Repsol is freezing the development of all major hydrogen assets in the country, says the company.
After international companies cancelled their plans to export hydrogen from Norway to Germany, this is another alarming sign for the industry in the E.U.
According to Repsol, the world-renowned Oil & Gas Spanish giant, has halted all developments of green hydrogen projects in Spain with a large electrolysis capacity, namely over 350 MW. The company says that the existing regulations in Spain are at the root of this decision.
From Repsol's perspective, the current political discussion about possible windfall taxes on energy companies and banks to be confirmed in the long term makes these investments simply too risky. Spain is one of the few E.U. countries to still apply a windfall profit tax to fund relief measures for consumers. In 2023, the levy granted Madrid additional €2.9 billion going into the State's coffers.
At the end of 2023, the same government extended the measure for 12 months, allowing companies to partially offset the levy on renewable energy projects. Now, the tensions between the State & Market stakeholders are rising due to the proposal of extending the windfall tax in the future.
Thus, we should understand Repsol's decision in the contexts of growing, domestic political frictions, and the instability of the hydrogen market in the E.U.
#oilandgas #crudeoil #naturalgas #hydrogen #greenhydrogen #electrolysis #repsol #spain #eu #pipeline
