Swiss investment company Smartenergy has secured €82.5 million in funding for a 100MW green hydrogen project in Spain, backed by the European Hydrogen Bank’s “auction as a service” (AaaS) support scheme, the firm said on Tuesday.
The Orange.Bat project, located in Onda, Castellon, within the Valencia region, aims to help decarbonise Spain’s ceramics sector by providing green hydrogen as a substitute for natural gas in industrial processes.
Smartenergy said Orange.Bat was among the main beneficiaries of the European Hydrogen Bank’s scheme, with aid overseen by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) and managed nationally by Spain’s Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE).
The project received the highest premium of €0.69 per kilogram of green hydrogen produced among all awarded proposals.
“The green hydrogen project met CINEA’s demanding eligibility criteria, confirming not only its technical and financial viability, but also its advanced development status, administrative maturity, and clearly defined execution and commissioning schedule,” Smartenergy said in a statement.
Industrial hydrogen consumers, primarily from the ceramics sector, have committed to purchasing about 75% of the plant’s output to partially replace natural gas currently used in combustion processes.
The funding approved by IDAE totals €82.5 million over the project’s first 10 years of operation, tied to an expected annual production of nearly 120,000 tonnes of green hydrogen.
The Orange.Bat facility has recently received the Integrated Environmental Authorisation from the Valencian Community, marking the first such permit granted to a green hydrogen project in the region.
The project brings together industrial players, technology providers, construction firms, research centres, and institutional bodies, and is supported by Spain’s main ceramics industry associations ASCER and ANFFECC.
Smartenergy said the initiative will provide a clean, locally produced energy vector essential for the Spanish ceramics sector to meet its emissions reduction targets in coming years.
