Moeve to break ground on the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley

Moeve, the group formerly known as Cepsa, is preparing to commence construction in the coming months on the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, an industrial scale undertaking that the company says will be the largest green hydrogen project in Spain and one of the most ambitious of its kind in Europe. The initiative, announced publicly by Moeve and reported across the energy press, carries a total investment envelope of more than €3 billion and places large-scale hydrogen production at the heart of the company’s strategy to become a European leader in low-carbon fuels and molecules.

The technical backbone of the Valley is straightforward in ambition and breathtaking in scale: two major green-hydrogen production hubs at Moeve’s energy parks in La Rábida (Palos de la Frontera, Huelva) and San Roque (Campo de Gibraltar, Cádiz) will together host electrolysers amounting to 2 GW of installed capacity. Once phased to full operation, Moeve expects the facilities to produce up to 300,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, a volume intended both to decarbonise heavy industry and transport in Spain and to feed export corridors to the rest of Europe.

This is not a standalone corporate whim. The Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley has been recognised as a strategic project under Spain’s recovery and industrial transformation framework, receiving backing through the PERTE ERHA programme, and benefits from the broader policy architecture that the European Union has been building to scale renewable hydrogen supply under NextGenerationEU and the REPowerEU agenda. The Spanish government’s financial and regulatory support, including a notable award of approximately €303.75 million for the project’s initial phase (known as Onuba), materially de-risks the early works and signals political intent to accelerate deployment.

Moeve’s move is the logical continuation of a strategic transformation that began when the company rebranded from Cepsa to Moeve and set out a multi-billion euro plan to shift its earnings base from fossil fuels to low-carbon activities. That rebrand, and the accompanying commitment to “Positive Motion” for 2030, frames the Andalusian Valley as both a commercial opportunity and a reputational pivot: building capacity in green hydrogen, second-generation biofuels and electric mobility. Senior executives have repeatedly highlighted southern Spain’s exceptional solar and wind resources, the region’s robust port infrastructure, and its proximity to industrial demand as key locational advantages.

There are tangible socio-economic effects attached to the development. Moeve’s own materials and the project press pack project the creation of some 10,000 jobs during the construction phase (including indirect and induced employment) and substantial uplift for local supply chains and more than 400 SMEs in the area. The company also highlights potential CO₂ avoidance figures, measured in millions of tonnes annually once the project reaches maturity, that feed into Spain’s 2030 decarbonisation pathway and Europe’s wider net-zero calculations. Those claims frame the Valley not simply as an industrial complex but as an economic accelerator for Andalusia.

From the standpoint of project delivery, Moeve has been taking pragmatic steps: the company has announced phased implementation, with the Onuba phase in Huelva scheduled first and an initial 400 MW plant envisaged to come online ahead of the wider 2 GW target by 2030. The firm has indicated that regulatory clarity, notably the Spanish government’s decision against extending an energy windfall tax, was a necessary condition for committing to immediate construction; with that uncertainty moderated, Moeve’s executives have said they are ready to proceed. The first projects are expected to focus on grid connections, pipeline and storage infrastructure and the staged installation of electrolyser trains.

There are obvious political and market risks. Delivering 2 GW of electrolysis at an industrial scale requires coordinated expansion of renewables generation, grid and water resources, skilled labour and supply chains for electrolysers and balance-of-plant equipment. The EU’s industrial strategy for hydrogen assumes rapid growth in demand for green molecules, but that demand must be realised through offtake agreements, regulatory frameworks and cross-border infrastructure to make export economics viable. Moeve’s plan addresses many of these points, partnerships with port authorities, funding under PERTE ERHA, and proposed corridors to northern Europe have been signalled — but the project will nonetheless be watched closely for its ability to convert announcements into reliable, bankable cash flows.

For Andalusia, the Valley has strategic resonance. The region has been positioning itself to capture a disproportionate share of Spain’s renewables build-out and hydrogen manufacturing capacity, and a project of this magnitude would reinforce that claim. For Moeve, the Valley is a proof-point: it would demonstrate the company can transition from an oil-centred past to a future where green molecules and advanced fuels are its core business. For the EU, meanwhile, projects such as this are vital building blocks in a geopolitical effort to replace imported fossil fuels with domestically produced, renewable-based energy that supports industrial competitiveness and energy security.

As construction approaches, attention will turn to the granularities that determine success: procurement timelines, local consenting and environmental permitting, the sequencing of electrolysers and renewable generation, and the final form of commercial contracts for hydrogen supply. If Moeve’s schedule holds and the Valley delivers at scale, the result could be a significant reshaping of southern Spain’s industrial map and an important milestone in Europe’s hydrogen industrialisation. In short, the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley is at once an industrial project, a statement of corporate reinvention, and a key test of Europe’s ability to scale green hydrogen from policy aspiration into industrial reality.