STREAMING: Tercera edición Enagás H2 Technical Day (2026) | Enagás

Permit me to tell you a story, a real story. At the beginning of the twentieth century, two bicycle mechanics set out to achieve an idea that to most people seemed impossible: flight. They had no prestigious degree or government funding. What they did have was a shared vision and an unbreakable partnership. Through years of trial and error, in 1903, the Wright brothers achieved the first powered flight, and this feat changed the course of aviation and history forever. With it they demonstrated that when passion, teamwork, and perseverance are combined, not even the sky is the limit, and that perhaps what truly matters is knowing when and with whom to take off. And now you're thinking, this is all very nice, but what's the point? 2026 is the great year of the deployment, or is going to be the year of the deployment, of green hydrogen, a turning point for distribution, for deployment, for driving our, our energy independence, our, our energy dependence. Oh, I got tangled up with the emotion! Of course. I got stuck, our energy independence, our sovereignty.

Exactly. And of course, changing the course of the future, perhaps forever. Well then, to talk about all of this, the technological advances and the changes that have occurred in this past year since we last met, we have invited all of you here today. So good morning and welcome to the third edition of the Enagás Hydrogen Technical Day! And now, as you know, the Enagás Hydrogen Technical Day is organized in collaboration with the Hydrogen Technology Observatory. My name is Elena de Fuentes. It is a pleasure to accompany you in this third edition. As you know, we have a very important program, but first, let me welcome those of you joining us here in this auditorium of the Enagás Corporate University, and greet everyone watching via streaming. The program is intense and interesting, so let's dive right in to give you the news and headlines of what is happening in our sector right now. It is a pleasure to hand the floor to the CEO of Enagás, Arturo Gonzalo. Welcome!

Thank you very much to Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Enagás, for providing such a comprehensive overview of all the topics that are current, that interest us, and which, as he mentioned, will be discussed in greater depth throughout today's session. Before we continue, let me remind you that we have a hashtag for interaction. Here it is, I think we're going to see it. Here it is: #EnagásH2TechnicalDay. And some of the tables, one of the tables will be in English, so there will be simultaneous translation. I was going to introduce you as you deserve, but you're already here. I wanted to see... Ah, I wanted to see. Well, I was simply going to make a reference to the geopolitical theme before introducing Amalia, which Arturo Gonzalo mentioned at the beginning. I don't know if you remember that exactly one year ago, on June 11, 2025, we were here or you were here at the Enagás Hydrogen Technical Day for the second edition. And one day later, one day later, in the early hours of June 12 to 13, 2025, was when Israel, well, the Israeli Defense Forces attacked or launched that large-scale attack against Iran's nuclear facilities and military infrastructure. This came to be known as the 12-day war, but it was that seed for the geopolitical volatility we are experiencing now, just one day after the second edition of the Enagás Hydrogen Technical Day. We are going to talk about and examine how geopolitical conflicts affect the vulnerability of supply chains and the dynamics of demand and supply of energy technologies. That is why Amalia is here, who has already come forward, because she is going to present the Energy Technology Perspectives 2026, produced by the International Energy Agency, as Arturo already mentioned. And no one better than our analyst, the energy technology analyst from the agency, who will also share insights from the Energy and AI Report, the transformative engine of the energy sector. Now, yes, welcome Amalia Pizarro!

Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation, for giving us the opportunity to present to you. I am going to present findings not only from this report, but from many reports that we produce at the International Energy Agency with a technological focus and fundamentally on those technologies that will impact hydrogen deployment. Before I start, I want to make a note. I have been working outside of Spain for 15 years, so I will give this presentation in Spanish, but I might make up some terms, so I apologize. And then another note I want to make: the slides are in English. You will see numbers like billion, trillions of investments. Just remember that in Spanish and English the concept is different. A trillion in English is a billón in Spanish. So that you can follow me, and in case I say it differently, always follow the slide and not me.

And with all this, I would like to begin by saying that the clean technology market is not a niche, it is a reality. It has an annual growth rate of around 20 percent, and in the previous year it reached nearly 1.2 trillion dollars. Many of us ask, how much is 1.2 trillion dollars? Well, the crude oil market is 2 trillion dollars, so the clean technology market is approximately 60 percent of the value of the crude oil market. What this reflects, above all, is that we are in what we call the era of electricity, a very rapid deployment of all those technologies linked to electricity. To give two examples, today we are installing ten times more solar capacity than we were a decade ago. Today, 25 percent of vehicles sold worldwide are electric. In China, it is half. Now, if we look at different scenarios, let me explain a bit what these scenarios are. Often when you see publications from the agency, you will see CPS and STEPS. What do these mean? These are exploratory scenarios, meaning they are not normative scenarios like a net-zero emissions scenario where there is an objective to reach. In these exploratory scenarios, what we assume is what would happen if certain conditions persist. So we have the CPS scenario, which is what happens if the policies we currently have implemented continue. And the STEPS scenario: what happens if those policies that have been announced but not yet implemented continue? These are not particularly ambitious scenarios for renewable energy deployment, but even in these scenarios that are not particularly ambitious because they do not pursue any specific decarbonization objective, what we see is growth in the clean technology market, and this growth is for one simple reason: they are cheaper. While it is true that ten years ago the growth of these technologies began with policies that incentivized them, now the deployment of these technologies is fundamentally linked to their price. And if we look at what happens, for example, with two other things, which would be clean fuels, their market is smaller. We will see a bit more about what is happening. However, even in these scenarios that are not ambitious in terms of decarbonization, their value could double. However, in this case, and unlike what happens with clean technologies, without ambitious policies, without ambitious objectives linked, for example, to decarbonization but also to energy security, their market does not grow as much, does not reach all the potential it might unleash, and growth is more moderate. Fundamentally, why? Because they are still more expensive, so something more is needed to ensure their deployment. And finally, you will see in green what would be clean materials. This is fundamentally the production of steel, aluminum, cement, using technologies that would significantly reduce emissions. It is quite small, and growth under current policies would be very limited because they are considerably more expensive, with considerably higher additional costs, so their deployment would require decisive policies and ambition.

And I would like to share some of the findings on supply chains, these clean energy technologies that will be fundamental for hydrogen deployment because they will provide the technologies we need to produce that electricity and the electrolyzers to produce that hydrogen. What we see is that there are plants installed in more than 50 countries worldwide. Apparently, there is great diversification because we can see plants installed in many regions. We see overcapacity particularly in solar modules and batteries. However, although there apparently is much diversity in where these plants are located, what we see is a quite significant concentration in China. It varies somewhat by technology, but on average, China concentrates 80 percent of installed clean technology capacity. It is also true that China is a major consumer of clean technologies; it has an enormous market, and approximately 60 percent of clean technology deployment is happening in China. However, it is 60 percent when China concentrates 80 percent of production, so China concentrates more production than demand. And furthermore, if we compare the concentration of this clean technology demand with the concentration we currently see even for fossil fuels or other materials, it is considerably higher. So it is very, very concentrated.

What we wanted to see is what the impact on supply chains might be. This varies somewhat depending on which part of the supply chain we look at. If we move toward the end of the supply chain, such as batteries or electric vehicles, if we didn't have China, the world could still meet its demand, and this is because most industries have focused on the final steps of the supply chain, which also have the highest added value. However, if we remove China, if we remove China's manufacturing capacity and we want to meet the rest of the world's demand, what we find is that for some technologies we could only meet 25 percent of global demand. So if there were any problems with China's supply chains, there would be problems in the final stages of countries' supply chains, including Europe. For example, let me highlight a few. Cathode precursors for batteries: without China, we can only meet 25 percent of the rest of the world's demand. If we look at announced capacities for new plants, the situation doesn't change. And to highlight: where are the main vulnerabilities in solar technology? In wafers. In wind technology, which we also need for hydrogen deployment, in the refining of rare earth materials and permanent magnets, and a long list. So we have supply chain vulnerabilities that we should examine. Why does this happen? The truth is, establishing causality is very difficult. I think we can all imagine that in China there are cheaper material prices, subsidies, more favorable tax regimes, lower labor costs, permits may be easier, but I want to draw attention to something, which is the issue of innovation. We cannot establish causality, but it is important to remember that in the 1980s, during the oil crisis, the average investment of International Energy Agency member countries was 0.1 percent of their GDP in public R&D spending for energy. Today, and I think we can all agree that we are in a very delicate context of energy security, sustainability, and competitiveness, the IEA member countries are spending half of that. We can look at many innovation indicators. China leads in all of them. China leads in public R&D spending for energy. And as you can see in this figure, since 2020 China leads significantly in patents. So this is a call to attention for the importance of innovation.

And now, regarding technologies, I would like to delve a bit more into fuels. In the exploratory scenarios, CPS and STEPS, which do not have climate ambitions, the clean fuels market approximately doubles to reach 400 billion dollars by 2035. However, a large part of this growth comes from biofuels, biofuels that we already have today. The growth of biogases, of biomethane, is quite significant. The growth of hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels accounts for only 20 percent. So it is small without more ambitious policies. However, for example, using the net-zero emissions scenario as an aspiration, the clean fuels market could triple, and if it triples, reaching 1.2 trillion dollars, this growth can no longer come, or can come very limitedly from biofuels, because the availability we have of sustainable biomass sources is limited. So, in that net-zero emissions scenario, a large part of the clean fuels growth comes through hydrogen-derived fuels. And since we are running a bit short on time and I would like to have time to discuss artificial intelligence, I encourage you to consult in the Energy Technology Perspectives report the different infographics we have on the competitiveness of various technologies that would use hydrogen. In this case, we have the use of alternative fuels for aircraft propulsion, where we show the price difference between using a traditional fuel and using ammonia and methanol. As we can see, the cost impact is relatively limited, mainly associated with a higher fuel price, and what we need to highlight here is the importance of innovation. In 2020, we did not have ship propulsion on ammonia. It was being tested in laboratories. In 2024-2025, we had the first ships propelled almost entirely by ammonia. And if we look at the delivery orders from major shipping companies, it is very likely that in this decade we will have enormous ships, bulk carriers, gas carriers that can run on ammonia. We have more infographics for the case of steel. Here, just one thing: the use of green hydrogen in steel would have a premium, but if we look at the impact it would have on the end user of that steel, it is quite limited, at 1 to 2 percent. So we need to foster the creation of leaders. And I encourage you to look into it further. I would like to present an update from our latest report, the Global Hydrogen Review, which we will publish next week, but we have already published the investments. So, if we take into account projects already under construction, what we observe is that investments in low-emission hydrogen in 2025 doubled those of 2024. If we account for an estimate of what we believe will happen in 2026, considering projects under construction, these investments would grow approximately 50 percent. This is very significant growth in a technology. And what we also observe is that from 2025 there is a crossover, and investments in electrolytic hydrogen exceed investments in hydrogen with carbon capture, which had initially led. And they would reach, we estimate, 7 billion dollars in 2026.

And regarding artificial intelligence, I am going to present something that is not yet published; we will discuss it in our latest report. But in the investments section, we tried to look at the market capitalization of companies related to hydrogen. So we have a portfolio of hydrogen technologies. When we wanted to see what had happened, what we found was spectacular growth. However, when we looked at what was happening, we saw that this spectacular growth was associated with a company called Bloom Energy, which produces solid oxide fuel cells. What is happening is that data centers and artificial intelligence currently consume approximately 1.5 percent of global electricity. They have annual electricity consumption growth of approximately 17 percent. The issue is that the time you have to wait for a grid connection can be up to 10 years. So there are projects deciding to go off-site. But what is the problem? The time to get a natural gas turbine is 5 years, 7 years. So supply chains are saturated, and what Bloom Energy is doing is providing an alternative, providing fuel cells. What is true is that we think these fuel cells will fundamentally run on natural gas today, but it opens up the possibility of hydrogen. We are trying to see if there are any data centers considering the use of hydrogen. We know there is one in the Netherlands, and there is a data center that I believe is on the scale of 900 megawatts planned in Korea using hydrogen. So this is a possibility that is mainly linked to the queues for grid connections and the queues for gas turbines.

And before I finish, going back to the other slide, we also track what is happening with venture capital. Venture capital provides us with a lot of information because it moves faster than other types of money. It always seeks opportunities much more quickly. What we saw during the COVID era, in 2020, was that there was a lot of venture capital flowing toward the energy sector in general, because it was a time when interest rates were very low and the energy sector could be an opportunity. What happens? Innovation in the energy sector takes a long time, it is very slow, and this does not happen in other sectors. So in the context we are currently in of higher interest rates, what we see is that much of this money is going toward artificial intelligence. This can give us some ideas about where investors think greater returns can be found. It is not so much that money is leaving energy, but rather that, in general, if we look at venture capital, it is increasing and going to artificial intelligence. What is the potential of artificial intelligence for hydrogen? We don't know. The only thing we know is that technology development takes 30, 40 years, and of course the use of artificial intelligence could accelerate it. We know what has happened, for example. I don't know if you are familiar with the development of the three-dimensional structure of proteins. For 50 years, researchers around the world, in a very costly process, were physically developing these models, and approximately before the deployment of artificial intelligence, they had mapped 180,000 three-dimensional protein structures, and all this information had been put in a public repository called the Protein Data Bank. Then, using artificial intelligence through neural algorithms, a project called AlphaFold, developed by Google DeepMind, in one year they estimated three-dimensional structures of 200 million proteins. This represents an acceleration of innovation of 45,000 times. Is this transferable to hydrogen? It could be. But what do we need for energy to benefit from artificial intelligence? Public data. Artificial intelligence models, no matter how good they are, without good databases, will be of little use to us. So of course artificial intelligence has great potential both for developing innovation and for improving manufacturing, but without the data, it will be of little use. And finally, going back, something Arturo mentioned at the beginning, we have a report called the State of Energy Innovation, and we survey the leading actors in the energy sector. We conducted a survey at the end of last year and asked them: what do you think will be the main drivers of energy innovation? And by a landslide, energy security won, followed by competitiveness. But it is important to say that we conducted this survey before the Middle East conflict. If we were to conduct it today, I think we can all imagine that the results would change, they would be different. So we need to take into account the new context we are in, where energy security and competitiveness will play a much more prominent role. And with this, I know I have exceeded my time, what I encourage you to do is that next week, on June 18, the International Energy Agency will publish the new Global Hydrogen Review report, where we will be able to delve deeper into some of the things I have explained here, as well as what the impact of the Middle East conflict might be, the use of hydrogen for energy security. So, thank you very much for the invitation, and I encourage you to consult the report.

Thank you very much, Amalia Pizarro, for giving us so much information. Little time, but we will keep that report to read and go into a bit more depth. And we continue. If I ask you what do the Atapuerca fossils, molecular biology, and the first pediatric exoskeleton have in common? You, because you are a quality audience, know that what they have in common is the CSIC. Of course. The center, the Spanish National Research Council, as you know, the largest scientific institution in Spain and the third in Europe. Among the 7,000 projects they run simultaneously, they work with molecules, catalysts, and membranes that will make the hydrogen economy possible. To tell us about the CSIC's contribution, we are joined by someone who knows a great deal about the matter. He is the coordinator of the Global Materials Area at CSIC, Antonio Chica. Welcome.

Well, first of all, I wanted to thank Enagás for inviting us to this Hydrogen Technical Day, which is really very interesting and also very important that all the actors working in hydrogen come together and are able to cover the entire value chain and give strength and power to hydrogen. Well, following the safety protocol: first, Enagás gave its safety video, Amalia also gave her disclaimers about billions and trillions, so I will give my disclaimer too, okay? Please note that you will see very dense, very packed slides, but don't worry because I am not going to stop to detail each one of them. I just want them to remain there as information that you can consult and that you can have access to, and to know what we work on at CSIC. Well, once I have thanked you for the invitation, I would also like to convey a greeting from the president, who is really the one who should be here, but due to scheduling issues, it fell to me. So please excuse me. I don't know if expectations will be met, but what I do intend to do is stick to the time, which I believe has a lot of value here.

Well, putting formalities aside, first of all, we are facing here a great technological and energy challenge of our time, which is the energy paradigm shift, moving toward hydrogen as the future. And that is why I wanted to title this presentation 'Science and Innovation Enabling the Hydrogen Economy,' because I believe it perfectly summarizes what we want to do from CSIC and what we want to convey to you about innovation from CSIC. It is clear that the success of a hydrogen economy will not depend on a single revolutionary technology, that is certain, but there must be a clear ability to integrate multiple scientific and technological innovations throughout the entire value chain. And I believe that is precisely where CSIC has its key role: contributing innovation across that entire value chain and helping to establish this potential of hydrogen. For decades, it is clear, energy systems have always been designed prioritizing security and supply. Those are the two factors associated with energy. But today we must add a third dimension, which is sustainability. We need to build an energy system capable of simultaneously guaranteeing security, competitiveness, and climate neutrality, and to do so in a context of growing electrification, increasing energy demand, and geopolitical uncertainty. This is probably, as I was saying, one of the greatest technological challenges we face. Electrification appears to be the first tool for reducing everything related to emissions, but clearly it is not sufficient. There are industrial processes, aviation itself, maritime transport, and energy storage that will continue to need complementary solutions. And it is precisely there that hydrogen, as we all know, that renewable hydrogen is called to play a strategic role, not as a substitute for electricity, but as an energy vector capable of connecting sectors and facilitating decarbonization where other alternatives face much greater limitations. Well, one of the great challenges that the energy transition faces is not only, and this from the CSIC's perspective, the development of scientific knowledge, which is also very important. The important thing is not only to develop it, but to transform it into technologies, technologies that are capable of generating real impact, that actually apply and can potentially be used to create those hydrogen-related technologies. And it is precisely here that CSIC plays an important differentiating role. Our activity spans the entire value chain in innovation, from fundamental research to our own developments, demonstrators, and even pilot infrastructure that I will talk about later. We also have a very important objective, which is to contribute to training talent, talent that will make this future energy transition possible, because the true value lies not only in measuring that knowledge that is generated, but also in the capacity to transform it into innovation and impact. And for that, having talent is fundamental.

To traverse this path, it is not enough to have good researchers; we must also integrate these capabilities to span the entire value chain. Well, the hydrogen economy clearly requires new materials, electrochemical technologies, industrial processes, renewable resources, infrastructure, and digital tools. None of these capabilities, as we have said, is sufficient on its own. For this reason, CSIC launched a Thematic Platform called PTI Transender, the Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform for Sustainable Energy Transition, whose objective is to drive technological development, increase the maturity level of the solutions we generate, and facilitate their transfer to the industrial fabric. The examples we will see later are a demonstration of how multidisciplinary collaboration translates into concrete technologies for the hydrogen economy. And one of the first challenges that CSIC addresses is the production of renewable hydrogen, but in a more efficient and economical way. That is the key, as was mentioned earlier. For this, it is not enough to have conventional electrolyzers available. We need to improve materials, reduce critical raw materials, increase efficiency, and guarantee system durability. In this area, CSIC works from the development of new materials and electrolyzers in AEM and SOEC technologies to the construction of single cells and larger-scale demonstrators. We also have unique infrastructure to validate technologies in conditions close to real-world conditions. The ultimate goal is to transform knowledge into technologies so that the long-desired industrial transfer can take place. When we talk about renewable hydrogen, we usually always think of electrolysis, and that is why we talk about green hydrogen. I am intentionally not talking about green hydrogen; I am talking about renewable hydrogen, which is broader. But if we want to accelerate this energy transition, we must take advantage of all available routes. Spain has biomass, agricultural residues, livestock residues, industrial waste, biogas, and biogenic carbon in general. For this reason, CSIC develops technologies such as catalytic reforming of alcohols to produce hydrogen, as well as advanced biomass gasification processes integrated with CO2 capture. The lesson for us here is clear: the future of renewable hydrogen will be based on the complementarity of different technological routes.

Once renewable hydrogen is produced, the next challenge is to transform it into molecules, molecules that sectors difficult to electrify will continue to need. For this, CSIC has developed the concept of CSIC Biorefinery, an integrated platform for utilizing biomass and waste. From different biogenic streams, we obtain bioethanol, biosyngas, sustainable aviation fuels, maritime fuels, dimethyl ether, and other renewable products. The idea here is also quite straightforward: replace fossil raw materials with renewable resources and comprehensively utilize all available streams. It is not about producing a single fuel, but about having a flexible platform capable of generating renewable molecules that various industrial sectors will demand. Industrial decarbonization also constitutes one of the greatest challenges of this energy transition. Electrification will be fundamental, but there are processes where it presents significant limitations. For this reason, at CSIC we work on integrated solutions that combine renewable hydrogen, electrification, and carbon capture. Among these, our infrastructure for decarbonizing thermochemical processes stands out, along with oxy-combustion technologies with solid oxide membranes and the calcium looping-based capture system. The fundamental idea here is that hydrogen will not replace all other technologies, but it will be an indispensable piece to complete the electrification of those sectors that are most difficult to decarbonize. Well, no energy technology achieves success solely because it works in the laboratory. And on this point, CEO Arturo Gonzalo has already made it clear. We need infrastructure, that is very clear. For this reason, initiatives like H2MED represent much more than just a new energy infrastructure. As has been said, it represents the future backbone of a European hydrogen economy. From CSIC, we also contribute through technology development, but also through the development of demonstrative infrastructure such as an experimental hydrogen production facility of 60 kilograms of hydrogen per day, a facility that

It is conceived as a living laboratory to validate production, storage, mobility, and intelligent management of hydrogen in real conditions. Because the success of the hydrogen economy will depend not only on technologies but also on infrastructures capable of connecting them with end users. There is a last challenge that I would like to highlight, perhaps we could call it the sixth sense because everyone knows it is there, but really doesn't know how it works and it has to do with AI, artificial intelligence, with its use and which is also connected with the speed at which we develop technologies. We need to discover new materials more quickly, reduce technological development times, and optimize operations in plants. Artificial intelligence, digitalization, and data science will be fundamental tools to achieve this. Here at CESI, we are also incorporating these capabilities into materials design, digital twins, energy optimization, and intelligent infrastructure management because future competitiveness will depend not only on who has the best technology but on who is able to develop and deploy it more quickly.

Thank you very much, Antonio Chica, for bringing us the work from CESI and undoubtedly innovation at the service of hydrogen. My goodness, so much to say. We are going to move to the first roundtable of this conference, of the two we have prepared, titled Green Hydrogen in Industry: Technologies Driving its Deployment. This is what the roundtable will address, the real technical challenges on the ground and the technologies making this deployment possible. We bring firsthand experience from those already involved. I am going to name our panelists with their names and companies because you see their titles, so they can take their seats and we will applaud them at the end because there are many. So, to our right from the audience, María Jazmín Nieto from Siemens Energy, then Olivia Infantes from MoEB, Manuel Breva from ANFEC, the National Association of Manufacturers of Frits, Enamels, and Ceramic Colors, next to him Godson Gómez from Estegra, and to moderate this very powerful roundtable, Susana de Pablo from Enagás, no one better. Now, a round of applause for all of them.

Well, good morning everyone. We started the day with the intervention of our CEO Arturo, saying that the hydrogen project has three main pillars: infrastructure, cost, and industry. And this is the roundtable where we will talk about industry and projects being developed today that are making renewable hydrogen a reality. We find ourselves in a European context where the transposition of the RED III directive in the fuel sectors, both for transport and industry, is already occurring. Most member states have their transposition proposals and are on track to complete the objectives of their plans. Several countries have already completed the transposition associated with industry, such as Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Lithuania. And there are others that will soon do so, such as the Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary. The progress confirms that the industry is taking firm steps and will be a key actor in the adoption of renewable hydrogen. Although the transposition in the industrial area is going somewhat slower than in the mobility area, measures are already being adopted to incentivize the consumption of RFNBO fuels in the industry, and projects demonstrating their viability are beginning to materialize. We are convinced that the efforts made in these first projects will be determinant for the deployment of green hydrogen as a renewable fuel in the coming years. With all that said, today we have the privilege of having the participation of four especially relevant actors for this sector who act as true catalysts in the deployment of renewable hydrogen in the industry. I would like to start with you, Godson, Director for Spain and Portugal at Estegra. This company is in the full phase of construction and completion of the green steel factory in Boden, Sweden, with a forecast of 5 million tons of steel production per year. And you also have in project the decision of another green steel factory in Sines, Portugal. Could you detail more in depth these projects that are reference points at a global scale for the steel industry, as well as the most relevant technological developments and challenges you are facing?

Of course. Well, first of all, thank Enagás for the invitation to show our project. Well, it is a Swedish startup. The company was created in 2020 by a Swedish investment fund called Vargas, and during these 6 years, well, many things have been done. Our main project is a green steel Greenfield plant, meaning starting from scratch, and it is the first steel plant built in Europe in 50 years. So, this plant is based on three platforms. And the location Boden was chosen because it is where there is large-scale renewable electricity at a competitive price, because in the past steel mills were located where there was coal or iron ore, and now these green steel mills have to be located where there is renewable electricity, because in the famous LCOH, as has been commented, 60-70% of the cost comes from the cost of electricity plus associated costs, because we must not forget that besides the cost of electricity, there are also regulated costs, such as network charges, for example, and the costs of using the electrical grid. Well, so in summary, we started in 2020. From scratch, we bought the land in Boden. Boden is a municipality of 15,000 inhabitants and this is in the middle of nowhere, it is 100 km from the Arctic Circle, so winter temperatures are -35 to -40 degrees. Then, there are two months of total darkness. In summary, a complicated place. We started building the plant. It is based on three platforms. First, hydrogen production, which requires a lot of hydrogen, 100,000 tons per year. To give you an idea, the hydrogen plant occupies about 35 football fields to see what it covers, because it is 740 MW, meaning 37 stacks of 20 MW. Also, for reference, the largest hydrogen plant that has been and is in Europe currently is 20 MW, which is the one in Hibertona in Puerto Llano, meaning this is 37 times that. So, we use this hydrogen to process iron ore, instead of using coal as is usually done. So, with this hydrogen, we process the iron ore and only water vapor is emitted. The hydrogen reacts with the iron ore which is Fe2O3 and, well, from there we have green iron and then this iron in electric arc furnaces is mixed with scrap and green steel is obtained, and it is called green because CO2 emissions are approximately 100 kg per ton of steel produced compared to 2000 kg emitted by a traditional plant. So, well, this plant has had several rounds of financing and we finished the last one in April because we are talking about an investment of 10 billion euros. One-third in capital. Our shareholders, well, our largest shareholder is the Wallenberg family, which is one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, but we have others like H2 which are French, George Clamet, which is the Altor fund, etc. So, one-third capital, two-thirds debt, and this plant is already starting to produce 2.5 million tons of steel next year, 2027, we have executed 70% of construction. The truth is that the plant is spectacular. You can follow it on LinkedIn because we announce construction milestones weekly. And well, next year what we have to demonstrate is that we are capable of producing steel with the quality demanded by our clients, which I haven't said, but who are our clients? Those who pay a 20% green premium in relation to conventional steel, so they are European premium car brands, meaning Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Scania, Volvo. Then premium appliance brands like Miele, Electrolux, but there are others like IKEA for shelves in their warehouses. Also, Microsoft for their data centers, etc. So, well, 2.5 million tons next year and 5 million tons for the year 2030. And to finish,

Well, next, once the Sweden plant starts billing, we have a project in Portugal, in Sines. I have been leading the process for four and a half years and Sines was chosen. It is curious because we analyzed 11 locations in the Iberian Peninsula, 10 in Spain and one in Portugal, and Portugal was chosen. [Laughter] And the reason is once again the availability of renewable electricity and connection to the electrical grid, which is fundamental. We need a connection to the electrical grid of 1.2 GW. Like a nuclear plant. To give you an idea, it is more or less 1.4 GW, so a huge connection. Sines had that availability because the largest coal-fired electricity production center was located in Sines, belonged to EDP, and well, there was availability. So, also we need a port because we move a lot of material, and then renewable electricity at a competitive cost because in the business model it is fundamental, as I said, the cost of electricity and the Green Premium. And the project in Portugal, the idea is to take FID when Sweden is already operating starting next year. The investment in Portugal is 3 billion euros with the generation of 500 jobs. In Sweden, it is almost 2000, and well, FID 2028 and start of production is expected in 2032. And I finish by also talking about AI, which is so trendy, because when we designed the plant, we have completely sensorized it and use AI to optimize processes because, as I said, it is fundamental that the cost of hydrogen is as low as possible. And I remember when I started on this topic almost 5 years ago, at that time they were talking about 2 euros per kilo for green hydrogen, which is a utopia. Because it will take several years to achieve it. Four euros is already an important challenge because as I said, to achieve four, we are talking about a cost with everything included for electricity below 40 euros per MWh, and that is very little. So, well, this is what we are, Estegra.

Well, Godson, that's why they are challenges, because they are difficult. [Laughter] Let's hope the third factory is in Spain, that you reconsider the 10 locations, the 10 sites you have been evaluating. Well, Spain is effectively the second location in the Iberian Peninsula, it is in Spain. We are building a hydrogen network, you know? Yes, yes, yes. [Laughter] Well, well, and underground storage. We know all the projects, those that are underway, those that were going to be underway, and the good thing, I think, is that the projects that follow can now be said to have solid foundations, because unfortunately there has been, I was going to say, quite a bit of smoke in this topic, because there has been a lot of subsidies and such, but well, they haven't moved forward because if the business model doesn't work, no matter how much subsidy there is, it doesn't walk. Well, thank you very much, Godson. And we continue with Manuel.

Manuel, who is the general secretary of ANFEC, the National Association of Manufacturers of Frits, Enamels, and Ceramic Colors. The ceramic and tile world has always been very important for the gas sector. As we see, it will also be for the hydrogen sector. In the 80s and 90s, a great quantitative leap in gas development was thanks to the ceramics of Castellón. And all of us who have been in this for a long time always keep that very present. It is a sector that, apart from being a flagship of Spanish industry, evokes emotion in us because we have had a shared past and it seems we will continue to have a shared future with hydrogen. Manuel, you are carrying out a project called H2FIT, and I would ask you to tell us its scope and the main conclusions you are reaching, please. Yes. Well, thank you very much. First, thank Enagás for the invitation to this roundtable, and the truth is we are very proud, right? Very proud to lead as an association a project like H2FIT. You made a very good reflection, the reference to the ceramic sector. Before starting to tell you about the project, I really think it is good to put you in context, right? Because often the ceramic tile sector is well known. When we talk about the frits and enamels sector, people ask us, 'What are frits? What are frits?' It's a fairly common question. In the end, it is a raw material that we manufacture, which is a mixture of inorganic chemical substances, melted at 1500 degrees, thermal shock with water, and it crystallizes, right? And really, only grinding it produces the enamel. We always say our sector is world leader, it is a very innovative sector, and whenever you see tiles, the aesthetic part you see on a tile that imitates marble, wood, is anti-slip, etc., that is what our companies do, okay? That's why it is really important to put you in context. Province of Castellón, one in three people in the province of Castellón works in the ceramic sector, so you can see the impact it really has on the province, the tile sector, the ceramic sector, and our cluster. And from an energy perspective, which is also a data I think is interesting, you mentioned it before, we made a transformation in the 90s, currently the province consumes 8% of Spain's industrial gas, okay? Between the tile sector and us. So imagine, well, all the challenges we have ahead regarding decarbonization affect us greatly, and that's why as an association we started back in 2000 to research how we could reduce our CO2 emissions, and in 2023 we launched, as I was saying, as an association, which is who has really led this project, H2FIT, it was a project we presented within the call for strategic projects of the Valencian Community in 2023, we were the project with the highest aid intensity, best score, it is a project of 2.2 million euros and we have received 60% financing from the Valencian Generalitat as a strategic project of the five selected in 2023, a project with a duration of 3 years in which it was very simple what we wanted to do between the complexity of what we wanted to do, right? What we wanted was to try to demonstrate from a technical point of view if hydrogen could really be used in our production process. As I was saying, we are talking about furnaces at 1500 degrees temperature, 365 days, 24 hours, 7 days a week. It is a continuous process, right? And we went to look first for some powerful partners to accompany us in this project, beyond the Generalitat itself, which of course we thank for their bet on H2FIT. We had BP as the energy advisor of the association, Smartglass, which is one of the companies in our association that made available to the project an oxy-combustion industrial furnace to conduct the tests. This is important because we did not do our study in a small furnace or a laboratory furnace. It was an industrial furnace where we made frits around 15 to 20 tons per day. That is, we directly went to what is that industrial viability. We had Carburos Metálicos, which was the company that supplied in this case, the hydrogen and the equipment we used in the project, and the Ceramic Technology Institute, which worked especially on everything that was the physicochemical characterization of the frits we made with hydrogen and also participated in the feasibility study, and it was really a challenge because we did not know the behavior. We know we have oxy-combustion furnaces, we introduce oxygen, we introduce gas, and we were progressively introducing different percentages of hydrogen, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% in four different typologies very, well, significant from the commercial point of view,

and the truth is we can say it has been a total success. We managed to melt the four typologies at 100% hydrogen, reaching the same technical qualities as if we had done it with natural gas, right? We even did it on tiles, meaning we didn't just make the frit and the enamel, but we put that enamel on a tile to see its behavior, right? And the qualities were exactly the same. Therefore, what was really the objective of the project, which is to demonstrate technically, and I like very much to put that focus because then I think you will ask us a question which is the part of challenges, and I will link it with a question from the feasibility study, but technically we now know what we have to do if any of our companies within ANFEC wants to make the transition from gas to hydrogen. That is, we have done this study precisely to see what we have to change in our process, in the burners, in the combustion chamber, the behavior of hydrogen at the safety level, and as I was saying, the main reason for it to be the association is a word we use as a slogan and it is knowledge transfer. What we want is that any of our companies knows what to do tomorrow if hydrogen is a vector that allows us to use it while always maintaining, of course, competitiveness, right? Which is ultimately what we need as an industry.

Very well. So, it is a clear example of public-private collaboration obtaining very important results for the tile industry. Totally. Very well. We continue with Olivia, Director of Regulatory Affairs for Clean Energies at MoEB. MoEB, well, what can we say, right? It is a reference and leading company in the energy transition, as we all know, and also, as we all know well, it is building its great project, the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley with 300 MW of power. Olivia, what technological developments are you undertaking in your refineries to address the structural transformation that implies replacing gray hydrogen with green hydrogen?

Well, first of all, thank you for the invitation. It is a pleasure to be here with you sharing what we are doing right now in Huelva. First, a bit of context. I think you all know that in 2022 we announced our Positive Motion strategy, by which our objective was the development of 2 GW of electrolysis capacity to decarbonize our own activity which is directly linked with road fuels mainly, industrial activity in our environment and the decarbonization of our main clients, which are clients in the transport sector. And when we talk about transport, I think not only of road, but maritime transport and aviation, which are two large sectors that have no alternative for decarbonization. This 2 GW project was going to be developed in phases and is being developed in phases as demand is defined, specified, and precisely the concretion of demand in RED III, although not yet transposed, will be transposed soon and establishes objectives starting in 2028 for road fuel producers, which at the end are all refineries in Spain and Europe. That obligation, which we already see close, is what has led us to take the FID of the first phase of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project, right? That first phase was 400 MW, but due to something that Godson has already mentioned on several occasions, we are going to coincide in several aspects, due to the limitation of capacity for connection to the transmission network, the FID we have taken in March is 300 MW.

What technical challenges does the integration of this hydrogen into our production process entail? Well, refineries have always been associated with the use of hydrogen, right? They go hand in hand. So, for us as such, hydrogen is not a novelty. The novelty comes from electrolytic production, from the process used to produce that hydrogen. Of course, the installation of 300 MW of electrolysis will be a challenge without any doubt, as it is being in projects that are already being carried out within and outside of Europe. But from my point of view, where we still have challenges, and we have been working on them for at least a couple of years, is in the production of alternative fuels that we are talking about and that Amalia mentioned this morning in her intervention, ammonia, methanol, and eSAF for the decarbonization, as I say, of aviation and maritime sectors. And as I say, that is leading us to collaborate, because collaboration is the key word at this moment in hydrogen, to collaborate with many technologists and not having made investment decisions yet because we need signals. There are signals that should be coming from the maritime sector that have been delayed. For example, at the international level, FuelEU Maritime, which is pending, well, it is there, but with very light obligations. And the aviation sector, well, the aviation sector implies that we develop at industrial scale Fischer-Tropsch plants, and at this moment it is complex, although the objective is there for 2030, we also need from the European Union, and we hope it will happen now in this package coming in June, July, flexibility measures because we believe that the sector in general in Europe considers that reaching sufficient maturity to make investment decisions on 100,000-ton plants, which is what is needed to reach an acceptable price in a short time, is almost impossible, I would say. We may have FID, there are no FIDs worldwide at this moment in Fischer-Tropsch plants, there is one in the United States, a small plant, but in commercial-size plants there are none available, and we believe it is very difficult that we will take them from here to a year for product to be available in 2030. There are regulatory alternatives so that there is indeed eSAF in 2030 and we are working on it. So, from the point of view of the project as such, beyond technology development, where I would say we have an important challenge, and we are also working on it very intensively, is the management of assets that will be available in Huelva and in Algeciras when we start to develop the project as well. I am sure many of you have heard about the hydrogen ring. For us, the hydrogen ring is just an infrastructure like the one Enagás could be developing, but in our own facility, in which we inject the various productions of hydrogen. Hydrogen Bio from our SMR. You know we also develop biofuels, bio-SMR hydrogen that is injected into the ring, electrolytic hydrogen from the various phases to be developed in Huelva. That hydrogen injected into that ring goes to our various consumers. Who are the consumers? The refinery itself, the Energy Park, and the applications we develop as regulation focuses on them. And with this, what am I referring to? Ammonia, methanol, and eSAF. So that ring requires development. Well, it is a ring, a digital tool composed of many modules. We have talked about digital twins this morning. Of course, data management through artificial intelligence. Yes, we are also working on it. And above this ring, something that is mentioned little and I think because it comes in a second step, which is product certification. It must be taken into account that every molecule we produce, regardless of the molecule, whether hydrogen or those decarbonized molecules that come later, will have both an origin and a footprint, and depending on that footprint, they will have a value. That scheme, the truth is that today we already have the basic pillars of certification, but again, both at the European level, details need to be developed, and at the national level, clarify how we are going to end up working with compatibility between sustainability tests, guarantees of origin, certificates, etc.

Thank you. Well, thank you very much, Olivia. Very clear. Jazmín, Director of Sales at Siemens Energy. In the context of the latest draft law for auctions in Germany published recently, in the preamble, Germany's commitment to the national objective of climate neutrality in 2045 is reiterated and beyond that, it also establishes that all power plants must operate in a climate-neutral manner, right? The fact that has caused a movement at Siemens Energy and has generated your commitment and here is the question: what is the technological commitment and development that Siemens Energy is undertaking regarding hydrogen turbines to be installed in new combined cycle plants?

Well, first, thank Enagás for the invitation and for also being on this panel. I find very interesting what you are saying about this new movement, right?, that we have in Germany. The auctions we were all waiting for have finally arrived. So in September and December there will be auctions for combined cycles, some 9 GW, plus 2 more, subsequently 2 GW more, which would already be for technology not only of combined cycle, but open to other firm energies, and this combined with that objective, right?, that they already had from the German government of decarbonization or zero emissions for 2045. Of course, the challenge is always to get all actors to converge, right?, in the same project, because we have been working for decades to be able to evolve gas turbines to turbines that burn 100% hydrogen, and we are on the route, we have a completely defined route and we have all the steps taken. The problem, what is the problem? That we need the rest of the actors, right? We need infrastructures for a turbine of the larger size, right? Our SGT-5000 9000 HL are using more than 41 tons per hour of hydrogen. All this means we need there to be a network, a network like the one you are developing here in Spain, as they are also developing a backbone network in Germany and moreover, with that connection then between European countries that will also allow that flow, right?, that flow of hydrogen. So, what is interesting about this new auction is that it flexibilizes, right?, to enable, because we always say there is a gap, in the end there is a price for hydrogen, a price for natural gas plus CO2 emission rights, and we need green hydrogen to be as close as possible to that price to undertake investment, because if not, we stop being competitive, we leave behind the industry, and it's not what we want, right? None of us here. So, in this way, in this auction what is done is to set that clear horizon: by 2045 they must be 100% burning hydrogen. Also, it allows the flexibility to incorporate it at the moment when the rest of the actors are ready. In this way, what we have designed, prepared, are H2 Ready turbines, right? Also the rest of the industry, logically. So that today you can invest and buy that technology, start burning natural gas or burning the percentage of hydrogen you have available at this moment, and then evolve to reach 100% hydrogen. So to say, we provide, which I think is also always what from the point of view of gas turbines we try to do, flexibility to the electrical system. If we set very critical dates in each part of the map, in the end we cannot fit all the pieces because it is very difficult for the chronology to be so exact, right? So, well, this is the mechanism that I think will help on the one hand for those prices, those initial investments to be supported by the selection by the government. And another very interesting thing is that for next year there is a draft and we are waiting for it to be confirmed of 2+2 GW to advance precisely the consumption of 100% hydrogen in these combined cycles or in existing turbines or new turbines so that in 2040 or 2043 they are already burning that 100% hydrogen. This second mechanism that we are waiting for it to be confirmed next year is also very interesting because what it does is cover the cost difference. That is, in the end, with the first mechanism we are acting, so to speak, on CAPEX, and with this second mechanism we would also be acting on OPEX so that during the years when that marginal difference still exists between gray hydrogen price with green hydrogen or natural gas with CO2 emission rights and green hydrogen, they can be compensated somehow, right? This is what I refer to they are doing in Germany. In other countries, we also see that this year has been important for deployment, right?, and for that commitment, right?, to hydrogen. Korea has also announced, right?, measures to have 100% hydrogen also in cycles and also in energy production. So, I think it is something key, right?, that also sets bases to continue from our side. What are we doing? Of course, on one hand we have these products or this project we call H2 Ready, right? The turbine is already ready to burn hydrogen, it is going to become obsolete, it is going to evolve, and regardless of what the emissions are in future legislation, we will be prepared for it to continue operating, right? And keep functioning. Remember that in general, the life cycles of combined cycles are more than 30 years. So, we understand that investors, those who want, our clients to buy a turbine, a combined cycle today, want to know what will happen in the future. We will provide that accompaniment, right? So that they can completely decarbonize the plant. What happens also with the part of, well, I have hydrogen, maybe we have some projects where we already have hydrogen available, there are also certain limits where we can already incorporate a certain mix of natural gas with hydrogen in different technologies. For example, in larger turbines we have commercially available up to 50% use of fuel with natural gas with hydrogen. In medium-sized turbines, which would be in the ranges from 25 to 62 MW, we have 75% today available. And in smaller turbines we could reach even 100%. We have some cases of 100% and in others we have different ranges, right? From 60% to 88%, for example, we have been operating at the Braskem refinery in Brazil since 2022 with hydrogen mixtures of 60% with peaks of 88%. We have all these technologies tested on test beds, but we need that step so that commercial operation can occur. We need to see the first power plants operating commercially, and for that we need infrastructure, right? And we need the rest of the actors. So, we are there. And moreover, those turbines you mentioned, H2 Ready, for Spain are also very interesting because we have a large fleet of combined cycles that today provides backup to our electricity generation mix, which can be a potential path in the future. We hardly have time left. Olivia and Jazmín have already given some keys on what types of measures and incentives administrations should promote for the deployment of green hydrogen in industry. Godson, Manuel, do you want to add something on this aspect that they have already addressed?

Well, I already mentioned it, but I think first regarding regulation, stability is needed. Unfortunately, there are changes, well, suddenly things change. I haven't mentioned it, but we also use natural gas to provide carbon to iron and steel, and we are planning to replace it with biomethane. And for example, two weeks ago a law came out in Spain where it will be mandatory to inject a certain percentage of biomethane into the network, and that affects us, for example, because it may increase the price of biomethane and decrease availability. For example. So, as I said, regulation is fundamental. In regulated costs, the green producer still does not benefit. That is, the electron that passes through the electrical grid, whether green or whatever color, pays the same toll. And it is very important that the costs of the electrical grid, for example, are competitive, because Spain does have cheap electricity in production, but then once you start transporting it, the costs skyrocket and all electro-intensive industries have the same advantages, regardless of whether you are a green project or not. So, on that side, it is very important, I think, that green is prioritized. There you are competing with data centers, you told me. Indeed, data centers are trendy. We all read about it in the press, data centers in Aragon with 10 billion investment, in Portugal also. And let's see, data centers are huge consumers of renewable electricity and water. And we must not forget that a data center is a black box where you introduce electricity and, well, water for cooling. But where is that benefit going to be consolidated? For example, Amazon Web Services, to give an example, well, its headquarters is in Luxembourg. So, you may have data centers in Aragon, all of them, but taxes are all paid in Luxembourg, in Ireland, or wherever. And for us, what has happened is that they are competitors, they need renewables, and moreover, they are millionaires, they have a lot of money, so they pay for electricity, well, at any price. So, well, that also impacts, and moreover, they have to be connected to the electrical grid. Connections to the electrical grid are very complicated. I haven't mentioned it, but the coffee is getting cold. Ah, sorry, I'm finishing now. So, connections to the electrical grid are also ultimately super critical. We need 1.2 GW for the project in Portugal and Sweden will need four. So, well, in summary, there are many challenges and these are very, very complex projects.

Well, there are many challenges, but we put a lot of passion and effort and we are, of course, unfortunately we have run out of time, so well, the coffee doesn't forgive, and as we have a lot of content for the second half of the day, I invite you all to have a coffee, those who are with us here, those who are on streaming. We will see you here at 12 to continue with the program. Thank you, and thank you to the panel. [Applause]

Hello, hello and welcome back if you have just joined this second half of the third edition of the Enagás Hydrogen Technical Day, and we continue with the content because we have much very interesting content. A day like today, two editions ago, in the first edition of the Enagás Hydrogen Technical Day, we presented the hydrogen technological observatory driven by Enagás. The first observatories in history were not born from the desire to contemplate the sky, but from much more concrete needs, knowing when to plant, when to sail, when to pray. Over time, the concept has extended, expanded far beyond the pure telescope, and today there are climatological, economic, cybersecurity, and more recently technological observatories. The philosophy of the hydrogen technological observatory is to look at the technical horizon of hydrogen to see before anyone else where the sector is moving. Well, to update us on the latest milestones and novelties, we are joined by the coordinator of the observatory, and you already know him because he is Igor Pagazartundua. Welcome.

Good morning to all. I have 6 minutes, I will try to be agile. Okay? Before anything else, I would like to say that in this last year, since the second Hydrogen Technical Day, the Hydrogen Technological Observatory has continued consolidating its function as a catalyst and accelerator of green hydrogen deployment through technology, okay? Currently, in just over 2 years, we are 110 partners. All of them relevant actors throughout the entire hydrogen value chain, from production, transport, storage, distribution, and end uses, whose two tables, mobility and industry, very interesting today, we have the pleasure of hearing. And with all of them, we have carried out and are carrying out activities around three main lines of action of the observatory, which are technological monitoring, events and technical workshops, and generation of expert knowledge, and as not, communication. Here they are all. If we continue growing, we will need another slide so that the partners can be seen. And well, starting with technological monitoring, how important it is to identify future hydrogen trends and anticipate technological developments in the sector. Earlier, the CEO of Enagás mentioned two or three relevant milestones in the development of linear infrastructures in Europe that consolidate the technological developments achieved. I would also like to mention those projects that are drivers of such technological developments, and in the area of storage, where many things are happening, both cavities and depleted storages, I would like to quickly name three of them. Project FRGE which is happening in France, where 100 injection-extraction cycles will be carried out with a duration from one hour to a week, which is extremely interesting for this energy vector that concerns us, which is green hydrogen. Recently, the injection of 90 million tons of hydrogen into existing salt cavities in Germany has been completed, which highlight the feasibility of using current cavities to store hydrogen. And a bit further from us in China, in a town called Pingding or something like that, forgive my pronunciation, the first demonstrative pilot in operation in China with 1 million cubic meters of hydrogen. But many more things have happened in all links of the chain and different nature. And it is true that in the observatory we have carried out and are carrying out activities that speak of each and every one of them. It was mentioned earlier the importance of repurposing, reconditioning natural gas pipelines for hydrogen, the measure of feasibility as a strategic acceleration lever for this energy vector, which without a doubt is interesting and a very important message, collaboration between TSOs always fundamental. Regarding talent, how important it is, right? Important to develop professionals throughout the hydrogen value chain and attract and retain that talent for this necessary energy vector. In that workshop, the initiative Green Skills for Hydrogen, funded by the European Union, which has just finished, highlighted that by 2030, around 1 million highly qualified personnel will be required, and by 2050, around 5.4 million people required. Soon we will have, and it was done in the previous very interesting roundtable on industry, the importance of scaling gas turbines 100% hydrogen with the ability to recondition existing ones, manufacture H2 Ready turbines, and be capable of consuming hydrogen. How important it is for energy security. In July we will hold the workshop to which you are all invited, okay? And finally, two expert knowledge reports, one on renewable hydrogen production, in which some relevant conclusions were mentioned earlier. I can say here that it has been clear after carrying out this report that innovation is not only focused on the isolated cell, on the stack, but on the entire system, the balance of system and balance of plant in English, right? And why? Because obviously that is what will help and accelerate that LCOH can continue to decrease as it has until now. And quickly, although we have a very interesting roundtable after my intervention on mobility, simply some highlights of this report which is also developed for land mobility, and thank Enagás because recently we did through them a webinar with the results of said report, right? Without a doubt, hydrogen must play a relevant role where direct electrification presents technical, economic, and operational difficulties. And where it has the greatest potential is in those applications where refueling times must be short and high ranges are required. And here when we talk about medium transport fleets, heavy long-distance transport fleets, captive fleets, buses, and not forgetting off-road machinery, right?, is where hydrogen has, so to say, a very obvious segment that must be used, right? And finally to say that technologies evolve. Without a doubt, fuel cells are the most extended solution and certainly,

The winner as a technology, but let's not forget that internal combustion engines are also being developed. The automotive brands mentioned earlier will also be working on them, and where applications with greater mechanical robustness and even lower initial investment cost are required, these solutions are also there to add value to this vector. Worldwide, 100,000 vehicles and more than 13 refueling points. What will happen in Europe will be told at the next table, so I won't say more. Simply digitalization. How important it has been commented before: digitalization, AI. A relevant message: digitalization and AI and the applications they have to bring us, well grounded, to help both in operation and maintenance as well as design and construction of new hydrogen infrastructure, hydrogen, and other energy vectors. We are conducting, thanks to the partners indicated there, a report that will try to ground a bit the use cases in which this can bring us with business vision. And nothing, I'm already out of time. Very important communication: newsletter, website, LinkedIn, the QR, there it is. Follow us in a very active way. Everything we do in the observatory is reflected here, so I invite you to follow it. And nothing, last but not least, thank you all and above all, in particular to the partners of the observatory, without which everything we are doing would not be possible. I encourage you to continue collaborating, those present and the future ones to come. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much to Igor Pagazortundúa for his, well, bringing us closer to hydrogen again, the hydrogen technology observatory, and as he already said, we have a very powerful table prepared. Allow me to speak English. Table participants: Mobility and ature with us, Mario from Messer, Víctor Akerlund from Power Cell, Ignacio García Lorenzana from Clean Energy Partnership. You can start coming up, coming down and start from your left. So Mauro, Víctor, then Ignacio, and then Jens Frankenstein from Daimler Truck. And to moderate this round table, we have Gonzalo Gutiérrez from Scale Green Energy. Thank you so much. And now you can give them a round of applause.

Well, good morning everyone. Well, first I would like to follow on the round of disclaimers for today's presentation. This round table is in English, but none of us is English speaking. So, if we turn creative with the language, please forgive us. Well, if we look back some years ago and look at the hydrogen mobility industry, we would be able to really address how much progress we've done in the last few years. There is now a lot of momentum in the market and in the industry. We have the European regulation in place with the RED III, also the AFIR. It's true that there is still some work to do with the countries to transpose the regulation. There are many companies such as some examples that we have here, but companies that are investing in the industry, investing in R&D. There is an increasing portfolio of projects in place, so many good news happening in the industry. But of course, there are also challenges and questions to address. Arturo raised some of them in the beginning in his presentation, related to availability, related to cost as I said before, related to the transposition of the regulation. So, yes, lots of opportunities but also some work to do. The idea for the panel today is to go around these challenges, to review the current status of the industry today and to see what really needs to happen to go from the pilot phase where we are now in Europe to the real roll-out and industrial phase in the short possible. So, let me briefly introduce our panelist today. We have Jens Frankenstein, regulatory strategy at Daimler Truck; he will give us the heavy-duty transport perspective today. Welcome, Jens. Ignacio García Lorenzana is board member of the Clean Energy Partnership and senior R&D engineer at Hyundai Motor Europe. He will give us his extensive experience in real-world hydrogen storage and refueling. Welcome, Ignacio. We have Victor Akerlund, senior VP of analytics and sustainability at Power Cell, and he will provide his expert view into fuel cell development and performance in the maritime sector. Welcome. And we have Mauro Garcia, corporate business development manager at Messer, and he will represent the industrial gas perspective and the supply side of H2. Welcome, Mauro. Jens, starting with you, Daimler promotes liquid hydrogen and is one of the key promoters of one of the options for hydrogen alternative for long heavy-duty transportation. In your perspective as OEM, can you give us some technical details and what the key advantages this technology comes with?

Yeah, sure. So, first of all, I think you need to understand where our use cases are coming from. So, we have a strong obligation given by the regulation in Europe to decarbonize by 2030 45% of our newly put into the market fleet, and it increases by 90% by the end of the decade, 2039. And you have to think a lot will happen with battery technology. So, our battery electric vehicles are running up to 500 km, this will be for medium regional hubs absolutely sufficient, also for example going Munich–Nuremberg, absolutely sufficient. But in Europe, we have a strong intermodal transport requirement, and here crucial aspects are flexibility, ranges, load. For example, we have also from Spain, a big customer for electric trucks, and they are running from Spain with fridge fruits and so on, which is not possible with battery electric. And here exactly hydrogen and especially liquid hydrogen is coming into play, because liquid hydrogen is with energy density basically driving the ranges compared to 350 bar gaseous hydrogen and even 40-50% more towards the 700 bar technology. And if you especially take that use case and take a technology where we currently have a missing gap to enable that transport, then exactly liquid hydrogen technology comes into place. And here we are very much similar to LNG technology. So when you look in the past on the LNG side, we have high energy density, we only put it in a vacuum-insulated storage truck and achieve kilometer ranges above 1,000 km. With future fuel cell technology, even higher ranges. And so that's a key driver. We have a lot of technologies like battery electric, 350 bar, which will cover small ranges, but for the big ones, we need this technology.

Interesting. Ignacio, in your role as member of the Clean Energy Partnership, this consortium is very well known in the mobility industry by HRS operators, by OEMs, but maybe not so much to the broader audience. So, could you briefly explain your main goals and your role, the role you play in the industry in terms of standardization and safety, for example?

Yes, so the Clean Energy Partnership was created 20-something years ago by some OEMs and some station operators, energy operators, in order to start cranking the engine of the hydrogen mobility. So, 20 years ago there was nothing. There were some companies starting to work with fuel cells, some prototype vehicles, etc. The next question came again: we need to refuel, therefore we need operators, we need stations, and we need to create the stations from nothing. So you need to create the protocols, create the safety protocols, create the station approval concepts, etc. So all of this is work from the CEP that has been later transferred into ISO and CEN standards. So all the protocols, the refilling protocols, also the site acceptance test, factor acceptance test for all the refueling stations that check the correct implementation of the protocols. Also all the safety, for example, as Jens was talking about liquid hydrogen, the liquid hydrogen refueling originated also at the CEP some years ago with a white paper that was in the origin of ISO 19885 that is now published, for example. So all of this has a strong link to the CEP. We're an association of mainly OEMs, vehicle OEMs, and station operators, but also some station manufacturers. We're based in Germany but we're Europe-oriented and well, anyone is welcome, and also, I mean, welcome to join, of course. But also, our main goal is to transmit our knowledge to make sure that all the hydrogen stations, be it from our members or from non-members, that they are all safe, that all work properly, that they do not damage the vehicles, that they do not create any safety issue to the public, so that we can continue growing the hydrogen sector. Also, if anyone is interested in how HRS needs to be approved, who are the approvers, what is a site acceptance, which are the protocols that are now in place that we recommend to use, etc., you can contact us.

Definitely, your initiative is critical for interoperability also of the stations in a broader network. Victor, Power Cell has been very active in developing fuel cell solutions for the maritime sector. From your perspective, which technical adaptations are proving the most critical when adapting to this specific sector and also which type of vessels are the ones you're targeting first, I think the ones that can incorporate the technology first?

Yep. Thanks. So, Power Cell, I would say, has some of the world's largest fraction or share of the announced maritime projects in the megawatt scale. So we are working with superyachts, we're working with bulk carriers, we're working with passenger ferries, and also cruise ships. The marine fuel cell systems, they are designed for the requirements at sea, so they need to handle vibrations and shocks and salt in the air, etc. So robustness is a very important technical adaptation. When we develop the systems, we work very closely with the class societies like DNV and Lloyd's Register to design the systems for the marine requirements. Then I would say also that the power density is really important because the more power you can get into a limited space, the more area is left on the ship to be used for cargo or for passengers, which can be translated to revenue for the operators. So power density is really important also in the marine space. And then I would say redundancy and integration, and they go a little bit hand-in-hand because when we deliver megawatt-scale projects, we build that on kind of 200 kW modules. So there could be tens of modules in one installation, and then we have an intelligent software layer on top that optimizes the installation on the fuel cell system level. So technically, if one module would break down, which hopefully is unrealistic, but if that would happen, the software layer would kind of protect the drivetrain and continue running, so the captain or the cruise ship operators wouldn't have to do anything immediately. So there's no single point of failure when you modularize it that way. And also, we need to have a good integration to the batteries because the battery-buffered they take the quick loads, you know, ramping up and down quickly and protect the health of the fuel cell modules and the fuel cell stacks so they can live for a long period of time and create good total cost of ownership for the operators. And also, I think when you have a new technology and you implement it in industry, one critical factor for acceptance of the new technology is the user experience. So for example, the ones who are going to service it or the ones who are running the vessel the whole day, that needs to be a very simple and flawless user experience. So integration there with the batteries and all the way from the captain's deck to the propeller needs to be really good. So integration is also a very important factor. As for which type of ships, vessels that comes first, I think if you look long-term on the strategies for IMO or Poseidon Principles, they say that we need to decrease carbon emissions by 80-90% to 2050. So that long-term shift will definitely require a technology shift, which I think hydrogen and fuel cells has a really big role to play in. But if you look short-term, I think you can look at what types of vessels that we are working with, like I said, the superyachts, the bulk carriers, passenger ferries, and the cruise ships. And for me, the superyacht is quite interesting, but I see that as kind of a Formula 1 analogy how that has worked for the car industry. They have resources and ambition to pioneer new technology, and in the beginning, it's quite expensive and long development times, but eventually some of that technology becomes commoditized and standardized and transferred to more ordinary vehicles, which in our case would be the bulk carriers or the cruise ships. So I think what our customers have in common is that they have a route which is suitable to hydrogen, and I think you need to have an energy requirement that's good enough. It can't be too little because then batteries can do the job quite efficiently, but it can't also be ocean-crossing much energy requirements because then hydrogen would take up too much space. So short-sea shipping along corridors where you have access to hydrogen is a good starting point. And then you need to also figure out a way how to monetize low emissions. For example, if it's to provide a luxury to superyacht owners to have no emissions, no fumes, no vibrations. So that's a luxury experience that could also apply to cruise ships. For the carriers or other industries, it could be to monetize on over-compliance of emission rights, for example, or it could give you access to some new businesses that require low emissions in the whole value chain. So an ability to kind of monetize on low emissions is important. And then, the access to hydrogen. But I think the International Energy Agency, for example, has pointed out that many of the world's harbors actually have quite good access to hydrogen production. Here in Spain, Port of Algeciras, I think, has access to 800 or 0.8 million tons of hydrogen potentially. So you can start in hubs and then you can build from there. And actually, Power Cell will release a white paper this week which goes more into details of this topic, like where does fuel cells make sense in the marine industry and why, and the kind of decision criteria that stakeholders in the industry can look at when taking the decision, because it's a difficult decision and there are many fuels and technologies that are complementary in the whole transition towards decarbonized and low-emission shipping.

Thank you. We will wait for that white paper. Mauro, you with the venture you have with Toyota, you have been awarded recently the concession to build a hydrogen project in the port of Barcelona. Congratulations for that. The project is an integrated project that has hydrogen production on site and also has an HRS. So you have both the supply and also the refueling part in the same location. So my question to you is, from your perspective, what are the most critical aspects to be taken into account when you have to integrate production, storage, and dispensing in one same location in terms of technical challenges, safety, etc.?

Good afternoon everyone. Yeah, the list can be quite extensive, so I try to limit to maybe three items of this list. I think we can start with the design. Coming from the industrial gas background, we are used to designing a facility based on a large off-taker that we have sharing the fence. So even the business model is called over-the-fence. Usually, about 60 to 70% of the volume that we are forecasting to sell with that particular investment is already signed even before we start. So before going to FID, we are already much more sure about these volumes than for a hydrogen project. So the design per se is already different when we come from nitrogen to green hydrogen. But also, the design of the refueling station affects how we are planning to design our electrolyzer. So we are now, of course, we are now more used to how we segment the load throughout the years. What can we expect about segmenting the load of an electrolyzer throughout the years? But also what will go through a refueling station that is operated. It's on our side, but also what is the part of the volume that will go not through this refueling station, through cylinders to the merchant industry, for example. So this, I think, is for me the biggest design difficulty. How do you match these two different components of load and capacity of two different assets with the uncertainty of the volume off-take for merchant hydrogen and mobility? Then I think a second component to the answer would be more risk. And I think for risk we can all we can think about classification and Seveso. So if it depends on how the company developing the project and in our case, how do we want to operate our new facility? But regardless of who is operating the refueling station and the production asset, we need to make sure that the ATEX zones are well aligned and there's no overlap. So it's more also another risk, more in the design phase, but that needs to be looked at and it's easy to overlook if someone puts some coverage, you know, that can affect the zone. And then also on risk, I would say S2SEV, because the production unit will have some sort of buffer, right? All these assets they operate intermittently, so we do need some buffer, but we have to watch out not to go beyond limits when it comes to also storage at the refueling station. So depending on how you're planning this project, if it's divided into multiple parties, engineering needs to be aligned that we will not extrapolate certain limits. And then third one, and I think this one is also easy to overlook, is noise. When you come from the production unit in industrial gas side, you used to being in the middle of a petrochemical pole, you can make noise. There's no people going around, right? But in that case, we have just besides a public area where people will be waiting while the trucks are being refueled, and nobody wants to be 15 minutes with 100 decibels around you. Right? So another point that is very easy to overlook. You only see that once you start progressing in engineering. And yeah, we have to find smart ways to guarantee also comfort in operations.