UK-based oil and gas major BP has launched the HyVal green hydrogen project in the Valencia region at its Castellón refinery in Spain, with an investment of up to €2 billion.

The public-private collaborative initiative HyVal is led by BP and is anticipated to decarbonize the operations of the Castellón refinery, replacing its current use of ‘grey’ hydrogen generated from natural gas.

The HyVal green hydrogen cluster is planned to have a phased development of up to 2GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030 for the production of green hydrogen at the Castellón refinery.

The Castellón refinery is also expected to triple its biofuels production to 650,000 tonnes a year by 2030 following the launch of the green hydrogen cluster.

Speaking on the launch of the HyVal green hydrogen project, Andrés Guevara — BP Energía España president, said: “We see Hyval as key to Castellón’s transformation and critical to supporting decarbonization across the Valencia region.

“We aim to develop up to 2GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030 for green hydrogen production, helping decarbonize our operations and customers.

“And we plan to triple the refinery’s production of biofuels to help meet the growing demand for lower carbon fuels such as SAF.

“We believe HyVal can play an important role in Valencia region’s efforts to decarbonize and help support thousands of industrial jobs across the region.”

The first phase, which is expected to be operational in 2027, will see the installation of an electrolysis facility at the Castellón refinery, with at least 200MW capacity and initial production of up to 31,200 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.

The second phase, which is expected to be completed in 2030, is anticipated to expand the capacity of the electrolysis facility to up to 2GW of net installed power.

The full development of the HyVal green hydrogen project is likely to create up to 5,000 direct, indirect and [induced] jobs in the region.

BP plans to manufacture 0.5-0.7 million tonnes a year of mostly green hydrogen by 2030 to enhance its global presence in the green hydrogen space.

  Andrés Guevara, BP, Castellón refinery, decarbonization, green hydrogen, Hydrogen, HyVal project, Spain, Valencia