Spain's Moeve says upended energy markets revive green hydrogen as €1 billion project breaks ground

By Pietro Lombardi

PALOS DE LA FRONTERA, Spain Sept 17 (Reuters) - Spanish energy company Moeve is pressing ahead with one of Europe's biggest green hydrogen projects as upended energy markets hit by the Iran war revive demand for cleaner alternatives, CEO Maarten Wetselaar told Reuters on Thursday.

In March the company approved the Onuba project, involving more than €1 billion ($1.15 billion) in investment, including over €300 million in EU subsidies. This is the first part of a broader project expected to reach 2 GW in electrolysis capacity.

Moeve has a 51% stake in Onuba, with investors including France's Hy24 and Spain's public-private financial institution COFIDES owning the remainder. 

"Right now, green hydrogen is competitive with grey hydrogen because the natural gas price is very high," Wetselaar said as the company officially broke ground on the project in southern Spain.

"Interest in green molecules in general and green hydrogen specifically has really gone up," he added, without elaborating.

Green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy while grey hydrogen is made with natural gas. Green hydrogen projects worldwide have struggled to attract customers because they remain more expensive than hydrogen made from natural gas.

Moeve is also building a biofuel facility, expected to start production next year, taking overall investment so far to €2.4 billion.

Owned by Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala and U.S.-based private equity firm Carlyle Group, Moeve rebranded from Cepsa in 2024 to reflect its shift into low-carbon businesses under an €8-billion transformation plan.

Since 2022, it has sold most of its oil production assets, including operations in Abu Dhabi and South America.

Wetselaar said he expected the company's remaining assets in Algeria to be sold before 2030, without giving details.

"I would be very surprised that those assets are still in the portfolio" by 2030, he said.

Moeve and Portugal's Galp have been in talks since January about combining their refining, chemicals and fuel retail businesses.

Wetselaar expects an agreement by the end of the year and is confident it will get all necessary approvals.  

($1 = 0.8715 euros)

(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi; editing by Charlie Devereux and Elaine Hardcastle)