Naturgy and Australian company Wildfire Energy have reached an agreement to research and develop a novel gasification technology —Moving Injection Horizontal Gasification (MIHG)— to obtain quality green hydrogen, with negative net carbon emissions, by processing a wide range of dry urban and agricultural waste.
With this collaboration, Wildfire will operate a pilot plant in Brisbane (Australia) to produce hydrogen for any use, including mobility. Meanwhile, Naturgy will leverage its experience in renewable gas projects to validate the process and ensure its industrial scalability in order to study its implementation in Spain and Europe.
Naturgy Innovation Director, Jesús Chapado, said that “the company is aware of the global challenge we are facing in decarbonisation and the fight against climate change. In this context, we see innovation as a tool to enable us to achieve clean energy solutions for the future. This collaboration is an example of Naturgy’s commitment to renewable gases, which the company wants to play a key role in developing”.
CEO of Wildfire, Greg Perkins, stated that “Wildfire is happy to announce this service agreement with Naturgy, a leading company in the biomethane and hydrogen sector throughout Europe. We look forward to working with the Naturgy innovation team and demonstrating our technology to convert waste into hydrogen with additional pilot operations, as well as completing a conceptual study for the first project in Spain”.
Strong commitment to biomethane as a solution to the energy trilemma
Naturgy’s investments in renewable generation underscore its strategic commitment to finding a balanced solution to the energy trilemma: contributing to economic decarbonisation, ensuring energy security, and providing affordable energy prices for all consumers.
In light of this triple challenge, Naturgy’s objective is to play a pivotal role in the development of renewable gases. This involves both the production and distribution of biomethane in Spain in the short term and the development of hydrogen as an energy vector, which will have a significant impact on the medium-term energy mix.
The company has positioned itself as one of the leading promoters of renewable gas in Spain, boasting over 60 projects at various stages of development. It currently operates two biomethane production plants, one at the Bens WWTP, in A Coruña, and the other in Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona. The latter was the first in Spain to inject renewable gas from landfills into the grid. Naturgy has plans for a third plant in Vila-Sana, Lleida, due to come online in the coming months, and it has already initiated the approval process for two additional plants in Torrefarrera, Lleida, and Utiel, Valencia.
The company is in a favourable position to seize the opportunities presented by renewable gases and drive forward decarbonisation efforts. It is willing to make substantial investments and allocate resources to this business, given the considerable potential Spain holds for its development, with 160 TWh/year, equivalent to 40% of the country’s gas demand.
About Wildfire Energy
Wildfire Energy’s vision is to eliminate landfills by turning residual waste into renewable energy and hydrogen with its MIHG solution, a simple process that converts waste into electricity and hydrogen, with negative net carbon emissions. Wildfire Energy has developed modular plants that can be rapidly implemented and used to convert biomass and waste into low-cost renewable energy products. This makes the company’s solutions ideal for industrial decarbonisation and improving waste management in urban, regional and remote communities where landfills are currently the only option.