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Hygreen and Sermatec, two manufacturing companies based in China that also have Malaga businessman Javier Romero as a shareholder in each, have set themselves the goal of opening two factories in Malaga province at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027. One will be the largest electrolyser factory in Europe built for Hygreen and the other will be the first factory in Spain dedicated to producing lithium batteries for Sermatec. Both aim to supply these products to the European and American markets. Both will also be located in Humilladero, a municipality where the two companies have already signed purchase agreements for large plots of land (19,000 square metres) in a business park owned by Unicaja. Last Friday Romero appeared in Malaga, together with regional minister for the economy Carolina España, to announce that these projects (initially announced last year during the Junta president's trip to China) are now officially under way after overcoming the challenge of getting Red Eléctrica Española (Spain's public-private national grid) and Endesa to guarantee the necessary electrical power . According to the regional minister, these initiatives will "transform the Antequera area and place Malaga and Andalucía at the centre of the green revolution."
"We expect to start construction after the summer, in September, and the construction period will last between 18 and 24 months. Our goal is to have the factories in operation and producing electrolysers and batteries by the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027. In fact, we are already negotiating projects here in Spain that require these delivery dates for the equipment," said Romero. Between them the two plants represent an investment of just over 150 million euros and will create jobs, starting with 356 workers that could then reach 2,000 once the plants reach their maximum output. Eighty per cent of the employees required will be graduates in vocational training and 20% will be engineers.
The president of Hygreen España has specified the investment and job creation forecasts for both projects. Hygreen plans to allocate 78 million euros to start up its electrolyser production plant, which will have an initial production of 1,000 megawatts and will initially employ 168 people, which will rise to between 700 and 800 when full production capacity is reached. "This is the equipment with which, using renewable energy and water, oxygen and hydrogen molecules are separated. This green hydrogen is then used for various industrial uses and applications, from fertilisers to aviation fuels. It is a source of energy that is going to be key to the decarbonisation of the economy", said Romero, stressing that the Humilladero plant will be "one of the largest electrolyser manufacturing plants in Europe."
As for Sermatec, it is a manufacturer of lithium batteries for energy storage, "a critical technology for increasing the penetration of renewable energies in Andalucía, but also throughout Spain and Europe", stated Romero. "We are talking about a factory with an annual production of 5 gigawatt hours in one shift, which can be expanded in the future to three shifts," said the businessman, who put the investment in this project at 75 million euros. "When it starts up, it will have 188 workers but, when we reach full production, we will be talking about 1,200 workers. When will we reach full production? Well, it will depend on demand, if demand accelerates then it will be relatively fast, and if not, in two or three years."
Romero was keen to highlight the importance of these projects beyond the headline figures of investment and job creation. He highlighted their contribution to the change in the production and energy model for Andalucía and Spain. "On the one hand, batteries make it possible to increase the penetration of renewable energy without increasing investment in the grid. For example, the 10.5 GW of solar and wind energy pending connection in Andalucía, which in many cases depend on additional grid investment, would not be necessary with our batteries. In the case of green hydrogen, a key sector that will benefit is the agricultural sector because, instead of using fossil fertilisers, fertilisers based on green hydrogen can be used. This gives an additional value to the final product of an additional 30%. Furthermore, we will reduce energy dependence on third countries, which will improve the balance of payments."
The businessman also highlighted the "harshly" positive impact of these projects on the environment. "We are negotiating a 1,000 megawatt electrolyser project in Aragon for the production of hydrogen for green fertiliser, which will take 6 gigawatts from our batteries and 1,000 megawatts from our electrolyser. This alone will save 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. Our factories will have minimal water consumption and will be carbon neutral because they will be equipped with 4MW of solar panels."
The regional minister concluded with the statement: "In Andalucía we have the natural resources, we have the talent, we have the favourable environment, and Andalucía wants to lead green hydrogen in Europe, and here we are ready for it. We have managed to double our clean energy production capacity and we have an important future ahead of us, and we are going to do it hand in hand with the companies, always accompanying our business sector."
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