Ceo allIance Cross-border European green hydROgeN valuE chain - Green Ammonia infrastructure study

2026-07-22

The CICERONE global project “2022-07-CICERONE” received the status as cross-border renewable energy project (CB RES status) in 2022. The CICERONE status project aims to build an integrated industrial scale cross-border European green hydrogen and ammonia value chain under the broader “CEO-Alliance” initiative. The project is defined and implemented jointly by Iberdrola Clientes S.A.U. (Spain), E.ON Hydrogen GmbH (Germany) and ENEL Green Power S.p.A (Italy) with a commitment to address the overall “Green Hydrogen Value Chain” based on a stepwise development approach. As such, the CICERONE value chain will consist of independent but highly interconnected infrastructure assets located in different EU member states following different development timelines depending on their respective initial maturity, which will be coordinated through the continuous interaction among the three committed organisations. To reach the development of a European cross-border value chain, the CICERONE project aims to build >800 MW of additional renewable energy, mainly PV, in Spain and Italy, a 120 MW green ammonia installation in Spain and an ammonia terminal and cracking facility in the Netherlands (Rotterdam). Iberdrola's scope within the CICERONE initiative is the installation of 400 MW of additional renewable PV plant that will feed together with a renewable PPA a 120 MW greenfield green ammonia facility ready by 2028. The green ammonia will be shipped to Rotterdam where it will be handled and cracked in E.ON facilities and a minor share of production will be distributed to offtakers in Spain to achieve a better optimisation of the plant. Iberdrola Clientes S.A.U. in collaboration with Iberdrola Renovables Energia S.A., company of the Iberdrola group, will implement the action “CICERONEGreenNH3stud”. The action’s objective is to launch an articulated study covering environmental assessment, market study and engineering design for the realisation of the renewable energy sources, electrolyser and green ammonia infrastructure to be installed and managed in Spain. This study will develop all requested investigations, preliminary assessment, regulatory compliance requirements and design activities needed before the actual works for infrastructure development can be launched. The renewable PV plant and the hydrogen electrolyser/ammonia plant are foreseen to be connected via a 220 kV cable, which is currently part of another project outside the scope of this action. The overarching strategic vision of this project is to contribute to develop the market for green hydrogen and green ammonia in Europe and contribute to decarbonise relevant industrial areas. As such, the Green Ammonia study is of primary importance to guarantee the optimal design, efficient and environmentally sustainable and regulatorily compliant realisation of the subsequent works for the photovoltaic energy generation and production of green ammonia. These results will make it possible to optimise the costs, resources and timings needed for the realisation of the first-of-a-kind green-ammonia infrastructure in Europe, and, in the long term, promote decarbonisation, create a green energy market with competitive prices to make green hydrogen/ ammonia a viable alternative, guarantee security of energy supply and facilitate the integration of renewable energy at European level.

Spain

2025-10-15