Cummins Inc. joined government leaders and partner Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest energy companies, to announce its plans for one of the world’s largest electrolyzer plants for the production of green hydrogen to be located in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. This investment in Spain comes on the heels of Iberdrola and Cummins’ decision to partner together on large-scale hydrogen production projects in Spain and Portugal.

The companies have signed an agreement to accelerate the growth of business opportunities in the electrolyzer market of Iberia, promoting the green hydrogen value chain and making Spain a leader of this technology and industry. This alliance helps to position Cummins as a leading supplier of electrolyzer systems for large-scale projects in Iberia and Iberdrola as a leading developer of electrolyzer projects and hydrogen supplier to final industrial customers.

Our partnership with Iberdrola will connect us with a major clean energy company and strategically positions us to be a European leader in green hydrogen production. We believe that this is just the start of our expansion into new markets, bringing new clean technology to customers, and supporting efforts to bring the European Union’s Green Deal to fruition.

—Tom Linebarger, Chairman and CEO of Cummins

This initiative will accelerate the production of green hydrogen in Spain and will create a new industry, the manufacturing of electrolyzer systems, with high growth potential.

—Ignacio Galán, Chairman and CEO of Iberdrola

A site selection search within the Guadalajara area of Castilla-La Mancha is currently underway for Cummins’ new €50-million PEM electrolyzer plant that will house system assembly and testing for approximately 500 MW/year and will be scalable to more than 1 GW/year.

The facility, which will initially be 22,000 square meters, is anticipated to open in 2023, creating 350 new jobs as production ramps up. Cummins is rapidly growing its capabilities to provide hydrogen technologies at scale. Cummins has deployed more than 600 electrolyzers in 100 countries globally.

As part of this alliance, the 230-MW green hydrogen project in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Andalusia, Spain)—that Iberdrola has planned for the leading fertilizer producer Fertiberia—will become a benchmark for large electrolysis projects. Cummins will be the electrolyzer supplier for the Palos project and through the experience acquired in the project, Iberdrola and Cummins will jointly collaborate in the design of solutions for large electrolysis projects. Cummins and Iberdrola are also collaborating on a hydrogen refueling station in Barcelona, Spain with additional partnership and broader collaboration opportunities anticipated in the future.

Iberdrola has submitted 53 hydrogen-related projects to the Next Generation EU program, which would activate investments of €2.5 billion to achieve an annual production of 60,000 tn/year.

The green hydrogen production capacity under this plan would be equivalent to 20% of the national target (4GW installed capacity by 2030) and would ensure that around 25% of the hydrogen currently consumed by Spain would not generate any CO₂ emissions. This and related Iberdrola hydrogen projects are anticipated to fuel economic and job growth, contributing to the creation of approximately 4,000 skilled jobs across 500 local suppliers.

In Castilla-La Mancha, Iberdrola operates 2,376 MW of renewable energy—wind power and photovoltaic—which makes it the third autonomous community with the highest green megawatts installed by Iberdrola in Spain. Recently, the company has completed three photovoltaic projects in the region, totaling 150 MW, and builds Puertollano photovoltaic plant (100 MW).