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Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) has chosen Iberdrola’s bid to supply hydrogen from renewable sources to power its fleet of city buses from 2021. The project's goal is to take steps to provide urban transport with zero contaminating emissions.

To do this, the company will build and operate a hydrogen plant on a 5,000-square-metre plot on the Zona Franca industrial area, leased from the Consorcio de la Zona Franca, which the TMB buses equipped with this technology will use. There is also potential to introduce the same technology into any other vehicle fleets and industries on the industrial estate that opt for green hydrogen to meet their energy needs. The service contract has a duration of ten years.

The hydrogen plant in the Zona Franca will be the first public facility of its type in Spain, and it will distribute renewable hydrogen produced by electrolysis. This will foster the creation of a green hydrogen hub in one of Catalonia and Spain's leading industrial areas. By winning this contract, Iberdrola has cemented its leadership in the field of sustainable urban mobility, where it is already a pioneer in electrical charging. It will now spearhead the supply of clean green hydrogen for use in the heavy transport industry.

At the same time, TMB has purchased eight buses with state-of-the-art hydrogen technology, which will be delivered to Barcelona in November 2021, with the intention of putting them into service in early 2022. The vehicles will be assigned to the company's Operations Centre in the Zona Franca and will be supplied with vehicular hydrogen from the charging plant on the industrial estate, with an estimated consumption of 160 kg per day. This figure will increase from year to year as more buses with this technology join the fleet, until a total of 60 is reached.

The adoption of hydrogen by TMB is supported by the European JIVE 2 programme to promote hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that produce zero emissions, which is jointly funded by the European Union. The project is being managed in collaboration with Barcelona's Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM). The choice of hydrogen reflects TMB's strategic investment in green energies. In February, it ordered 23 articulated electric vehicles with batteries suitable for rapid charging in the street, making progress in its work to convert lines H16, H12 and V15 into zero emissions routes.

Iberdrola, a leader in green hydrogen for the technology and industrial sectors

Iberdrola has become a pioneer in a new technological challenge: green hydrogen production. The company, in alliance with Fertiberia, is making progress with this ambitious project to make Spain an industrial leader in this sector, with a target of 800 MW of green hydrogen and an investment of €1.8 billion euros over the next six years. This innovative initiative will commence with the commissioning of Europe's largest green hydrogen complex for industrial use in Europe, which will be operational within a year.

The company is aiming to transform Spain into a technological and industrial benchmark in the area of green hydrogen, Iberdrola has reached an agreement with the world's leading electrolyser manufacturer, Nel, to make large-scale electrolysers and promote the value chain of this technology in our country. In addition to this, and to carry out the project, Iberdrola and Basque company Ingeteam have set up a company called Iberlyzer, which will become Spain's first mass manufacturer of electrolysers.