Green Hysland: one step closer to clean hydrogen for Mallorca!
On the 26th of April 2023, Green Hysland partners gathered in Mallorca to discuss the progress of the project. They also visited two pilot sites: the green hydrogen plant in LIoseta and the EMT bus depot in Palma which is now home to the first green H2 buses of the island.
Lloseta: Mallorca’s green H2 production
Lloseta is a small municipality in the district of Raiguer in Mallorca, Spain. On the outskirts of the town lies an industrial area, where a cement plant was operated by CEMEX until December 2018. Now, instead of cement, a new industry is emerging in its place: green hydrogen.
The Green Hysland H2 plant is located in a warehouse. It is composed of the following elements:
- e-House’: the main entry point for the electricity which will feed all the equipment of the site;
- The electrolyser which will produce at least 300 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year via electrolysis – the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Once operational, the 2.5MW electrolyser will run 24/7;
- A compressor which will compress at 350 bars. Preliminary tests have already been conducted;
- A water tank to feed the electrolyser. The water comes from a well outside the warehouse. A first purification step is conducted to remove bacteria using chlorine. A second treatment removes the chlorine from the water before using it in the electrolyser;
- Once the green H2 is produced, it goes into a buffer panel (capacity: 20-30 kg), then the compressor, and finally a tube trailer. This process aims to increase the efficiency of the compressor. Each tube trailer / mobile energy storage has a capacity of 300 bars / 360 kg stored at 15 degrees. It takes approximately 10 hours to fill;
- A control room monitors all the valves to make sure there is no leak or issue. It controls the hydrogen but also the energy input and output, water, etc. In case of a problem, the computer can shut down the valves directly from the room, without having to do so manually. Once production will have started, it will operate 24/7.
As the pictures show, there is enough space in the warehouse to set up new installations in order to scale up production if needed.
14 MW of solar power
The renewable electricity which will power the electrolyser will come from two photovoltaic plants: one in Lloseta (8.5 MW) and one in Petra (5.85 MW), about 30 km away from Lloseta.
The PV plant next to the Lloseta industrial site has been running since June 2022. It operates in self-consumption and is connected to the grid to sell the excess production.
The Green Hysland pilot aims to be as respectful of the environment as possible. The trees that had to be uprooted to install the Lloseta PV plant have been relocated elsewhere.
EMT Palma: Zero Emissions Buses for the city of Palma
EMT Palma, the Municipal Transport Company of Palma, has now received the five 12-metre green hydrogen buses manufactured by Solaris . Testing is currently taking place before incorporating them progressively on different lines. One of the buses is being tested in a private line which transports EMT personal.
The green H2 buses have a regenerative braking system which allows them to recover energy and to charge the batteries at every brake and stop. The electricity is produced through fuel cell located at the end of the bus. It can also take energy from the batteries installed on the vehicles.
The buses’ autonomy is about 400 km a day. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to charge the vehicle. Green Hysland partners had the chance to see the charging process during their meeting on 26th April.
The Green Hysland H2 buses are part of EMT Palma’s strategy to renew their fleet with clean vehicles – whether powered by green hydrogen or electricity. They will also start a pilot project with bigger buses to serve popular lines such as the airport or beach lines.
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