- The new 12-metre vehicles will be used on various routes from next week and are part of five acquired by EMT
- EMT will be the first customer of the green hydrogen plant in Lloseta, the first industrial renewable hydrogen plant in Spain
- The new vehicles were awarded for 4.8 million euros and are financed by the Capital Status Law, the European Green Hysland project and the Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de Energía (IDAE, Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving)
According to the company’s website press release on March 10, 2023, the Municipal Transport Company (EMT) presented the first three green hydrogen buses in Palma, which will join their fleet in the coming days on different routes.
The presentation took place in the Town Hall Square in the presence of the Mayor of Palma, Jose Hila, the President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, the Councillor for Sustainable Mobility, Francesc Dalmau, the Government Commissioner for the Balearic Islands, Aina Calvo, the Vice President for Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory, Juan Pedro Yllanes; the Director General of IDAE, Joan Groizard; the Secretary General for Transport and Mobility of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, María José Rallo; the CEO of Enagás Renovable, Antón Martínez; and the President of the Board of Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca and Director of Innovation at ACCIONA Energía, Belén Linares.
Also present on behalf of the City Council were the Councillor for Urban Model, Decent Housing and Sustainability, Neus Truyol, the Councillor for Economic Development and Employment, Jordi Vilà, and the Managing Director of EMT, Mateu Marcús.
After the opening ceremony, those present were able to try out the new vehicles on a route from Plaça de Cort to Consolat. EMT will be the first customer of the green hydrogen plant in Lloseta, the first industrial renewable hydrogen plant in Spain, which is part of the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project led by Enagás Renovable and ACCIONA Energía.
The mayor praised “the council's bold commitment to mobility for its transformative power”. “Today we are sending a clear signal and making Palma a national role model, as we are the second city in Spain with green hydrogen buses,” he said. “When we took office, we found we had an outdated public transport system, with old vehicles, and we have successfully turned things around. We are clearly committed to innovation, and this has been possible thanks to coordination and our ability to reach agreements.”
During the presentation, Francina Armengol recalled that “in the Balearic Islands, we have been leading the way in promoting a fair energy transition since 2015” and said in addition that “we are making a revolution in mobility” with measures such as the one presented today, the electrification of the railways, the expansion of the rail network or the transformation of intercity bus concessions in Mallorca.
The President of the Government also thanked the Palma City Council and the Spanish government for “believing in the transition” and working towards it, as well as the companies collaborating with the green hydrogen plant: “We were able to see an opportunity in the CEMEX plant crisis. We were the first to produce renewable hydrogen molecules in southern Europe, and today all this work is coming to fruition,” she said.
The Vice-President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Juan Pedro Yllanes, pointed out that “this collaboration with Palma City Council shows the government's new commitment to collective, zero-emissions transport. We continue to build a city with better air quality for the benefit of all citizens, and we are doing this with a new fuel produced on the islands. The green hydrogen produced in the Lloseta plant will play an important role in promoting the energy transition and we know it will serve as an example to other island territories, just as the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said. The Balearic Islands are once again at the forefront of the process of decarbonising mobility and I would like to remind you that we are the first territory in Southern Europe to produce this renewable and green fuel”.
Joan Groizard, the Managing Director of IDAE, pointed out that these buses “represent the first material result of the first industrial plant for renewable hydrogen in Spain and Southern Europe and contribute to building a renewable hydrogen ecosystem on the island of Mallorca, promoting sustainable mobility, meeting Spain's environmental objectives and making our country an international centre for green hydrogen”. An objective to which the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) funding lines that IDAE currently has open, endowed with more than 400 million euros for pioneering and unique renewable hydrogen projects and to promote the value chain of this energy vector.
Antón Martínez, CEO of Enagás Renovable, stressed that “the main objective of the European Green Hysland initiative coordinated by Enagás Renovable, which has led to the construction of the first industrial renewable hydrogen plant in Spain, in Mallorca, is decarbonisation”. The commissioning of hydrogen buses in Palma is a decisive step in this direction”.
“The commissioning of these buses is an important milestone for the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project as the first offtaker in the mobility sector at our green hydrogen plant in Lloseta," said Belén Linares, Chair of the Board of Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca and Innovation Director of ACCIONA Energía. “This initiative is a paradigm of ACCIONA Energía's commitment to decarbonisation and our commitment to development and research to develop innovative solutions to the most important challenges of our time.”
Characteristics
EMT's new green hydrogen buses are another step in Palma's commitment to sustainable mobility and new fuels. This makes Palma the second Spanish city, after Barcelona, to have a fleet of vehicles powered by green hydrogen fuel cells.
In total, EMT has acquired five 12-metre green hydrogen buses, which were put out to tender for 4,832,135 euros (VAT included). The vehicles were manufactured by a company called Solaris in the Polish city of Poznan and have a more user-friendly design and new braking systems.
The new bus model was funded by the Balearic Islands government under the Capital Status Act and is part of the European Green Hysland project, which also includes Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca. Power to Green HM aims to create the necessary infrastructure for the development of a renewable hydrogen ecosystem on the island of Mallorca and to contribute to the environmental objectives set by the Balearic Government on the islands.
Through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the European Union, has provided 10 million euros for the implementation of this project, which has also received funding from the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) of the Ministry of Ecological Change and the Demographic Challenge under the Moves Singular Projects programme
Second phase of the renewal of EMT Palma's fleet
These vehicles are the first Solaris hydrogen vehicles to be put into service in Spain. Their main advantage is that they produce no emissions and are quieter, offering a much more user-friendly experience thanks to the internal drive system with a smoother ride. The new hydrogen buses also have a regenerative braking system that allows them to recover energy and recharge the batteries every time they brake or stop.
The new hydrogen buses are part of the second phase of EMT Palma's fleet renewal, which will gradually include up to 65 new vehicles. When this phase is completed, EMT Palma will have renewed more than 90 per cent of its fleet since 2015.
This project was funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership under contract number 101007201. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research.”
