Repsol hikes renewables, hydrogen targets to 2025

Spanish integrated energy company Repsol has increased its targets for global renewable generation capacity and hydrogen electrolysers to 2025 and raised its planned low and zero-carbon investments this year by €300mn ($355mn) to just under €1bn.

Repsol now aims to have 6GW of renewable energy capacity on line worldwide in 2025 compared with a previous target for 5.2GW, and the firm has expanded targets for new capacity in Spain, the US and Chile, but declined to provide a breakdown for each country.

Repsol's revised Spain-focused hydrogen expansion plan targets 550MW of electrolysers in 2025 and 1.8GW in 2030, compared with previous forecasts for 400MW and 1.2GW, respectively.

"We are upgrading the targets because we have more certainty about the pipeline we have in our hands," Repsol chief executive Josu Jon Imaz said, adding that Repsol now has the technology and the teams to deliver on the target.

Repsol's installed renewable generation capacity increased to 468MW in the first half of 2021 from 377MW at the end of 2020, after the firm brought on line 90MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity at its 127MW Kappa complex in the Ciudad Real province in Spain's central Castilla-La Mancha region and wind assets in Chile.

The 264MW Valdesolar PV complex in southwest Spain was connected to the grid this month, which together with the rest of Kappa and planned wind assets expected to come on line in the second half of this year is expected to increase Repsol's renewable capacity in Iberia by 517MW in 2021.

The firm is still studying options to bring a partner into its renewable energy business and/or launch an initial public offering (IPO) to bring down the cost of capital of its rapid roll-out of capacity, with a decision expected early next year. Repsol is also seeking a partner for the 335MW Delta 1 wind farm in northern Spain that it brought on line in 2020.

Repsol has about 3.4GW of installed power capacity in Spain, including 2.35GW of combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) and hydropower assets acquired in 2018 and 600MW of gas-fired combined and heat and power plants at its oil refineries. Its power generation fell to 960GWh in the second quarter, from 1.1TWh in the first quarter and 1.4TWh a year earlier, as a result of lower hydropower and CCGT generation.

By Jonathan Gleave