Moeve starts building Europe's largest green hydrogen project

On 17 September 2026 Moeve began construction of Onuba, the first phase of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, at its energy park in Palos de la Frontera, Huelva. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Andalusia's regional president Juanma Moreno and European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera attended the launch.

"Today we are turning the page on green hydrogen pilot projects and moving into the chapter of large-scale construction," said Moeve CEO Maarten Wetselaar. The final investment decision was taken in early 2026.

The project in numbers

Onuba starts with 300 MW of electrolysis, with an option to add 105 MW, and is expected to produce about 45,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen a year, avoiding around 250,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Total investment is more than €1 billion, including associated infrastructure and a photovoltaic plant for self-consumption. It sits within €2.4 billion of energy transition investment Moeve plans in Andalusia, which also includes a second-generation biofuels plant.

The full valley is designed for 2 GW of electrolysis across Moeve's energy parks in Palos de la Frontera and San Roque, Cádiz. The project is designed digital-first, with a digital twin and a unified data and IoT platform from the outset.

Green hydrogen in Europe is moving from announcements to steel in the ground.

Who is paying

Moeve holds 51% of the project. Hy24 and COFIDES hold 29% together, and Enagás Renovable and Alter Enersun 20%. The Spanish government awarded €304 million under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, funded by the EU's NextGenerationEU, and the European Commission has designated the valley a Project of Common Interest. Moeve, formerly Cepsa, is majority-owned by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala, with Carlyle as the other main shareholder.

Why it matters for aviation and shipping

The first use of the hydrogen is in fuels: renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at the neighbouring biofuels plant, and maritime fuels, with ammonia and methanol among future options. With EU mandates requiring a rising share of SAF from 2025 and synthetic fuels from 2030, refiners with access to cheap renewable hydrogen will be among the few able to supply those volumes at scale.

Southern Spain has the ingredients: abundant solar and wind, available land, existing refineries and ports. Moeve and others have long proposed hydrogen corridors linking Andalusia with northern European industrial clusters, including Rotterdam.

Why it matters for the Gulf

For Gulf investors, Onuba is a reference case. It shows how an energy company with Gulf ownership can turn an existing refining site into a low-carbon fuels hub, with public co-funding and infrastructure investors sharing the risk. The same model is relevant to refining and petrochemical sites across the Gulf, which share the sunshine, the port access and the industrial demand.

What to watch

The construction schedule and the date of first hydrogen; electrolyser performance and the delivered cost per kilogram; the final investment decision on the San Roque phase; and long-term offtake contracts for SAF and green molecules, which will decide whether the remaining 1.7 GW of the valley is built.