Repsol has revised its Strategic Plan 2021-2025 with the aim of accelerating the energy transition towards total decarbonisation in 2050, as announced on Tuesday by the CEO of the company, Josu Jon Imaz, in a conference held this Tuesday under the title Low Carbon Day. In this way, the company increases the investment amount and the renewable generation targets by 1,000 million euros (from 18,300 to 19,300), which becomes six gigawatts (GW) in 2025 and 20 GW in 2030, compared to the 5.2 GW and 12.7 GW foreseen in its previous plan.
Increased investment will focus exclusively on renewable electricity generation, emission-free hydrogen production and the promotion of low-carbon initiatives. That is, it goes from the 5.5 billion previously announced to 6.5 billion. This means that initiatives aimed at low emissions will reach 35% of the total in the short term, a percentage that will rise to 45% in 2030, according to the forecasts advanced by the group, increasingly less oil and more energy.
The new decarbonisation path to reach neutrality in 2050 establishes a reduction of the carbon intensity indicator of 15% in 2025, 28% in 2030 and 55% in 2040, figures that contrast with the previous 12%, 25% and 50%, respectively.
According to Imaz, this modification highlights the roadmap set by the Strategic Plan 2021-2025, which focuses on “a combination of electrification and low-carbon products that achieve an effective, sustainable and affordable decarbonisation of the economy based on the advantages competitive factors of Repsol ”. In his opinion, technological progress and the deployment of projects allows the company to increase its ambition in the objectives of reducing the intensity of carbon., With which it can meet the objectives of leading the energy transition, in line with the Agreement of Paris, and limit the increase in global temperature below 2ºC.
To do this, Repsol has increased the internal price of carbon that is applied to all new investment. In this update, prices per ton of CO2 are differentiated for investments within the European Union and the rest of the world. Thus, a carbon price of $ 70 per ton in 2025 and $ 100 in 2030 is set for the European Union (the previous values were $ 40 per ton in 2025 and $ 70 in 2040) and $ 60 per ton in 2025 in the rest of the world (previously set at 40). Establishing a carbon price makes it possible to efficiently design new projects and evaluate and make investment decisions taking all variables into account. Along the same lines, the company has set a more ambitious goal to reduce the intensity of methane emissions, setting it at 0.2% in 2025.
The company has announced, for the first time, absolute emission reduction targets that establish a commitment to reduce by 2030 55% of emissions in operated assets and 30% of net emissions. The carbon strategy and its objectives will be submitted to a consultative vote at the next General Shareholders’ Meeting.
More renewable generation
The challenge of decarbonisation involves the commitment to the generation of renewable energy. Thus, Repsol plans to continue with the organic growth of this business with a portfolio of projects in operation and development in advanced economies, reinforced after the joint venture signed in Chile with Ibereólica Renovables in 2020, and the recent acquisition of 40% of the company Hecate Energy in the United States, specialized in the development of photovoltaic and energy storage projects. Currently, Repsol plans to end the year with 1.7 GW of installed renewable capacity and another 4.7 GW in projects under construction and with high visibility.
The industrial area will continue to rely on energy efficiency, the circular economy, renewable hydrogen and the capture and use of CO2. The company announced last July its intention to reach an equivalent generation capacity of 552 megawatts (MW) in 2025 and reach 1.9 GW in 2030, compared to 400 MW and 1.2 GW, respectively, announced with anteriority. These objectives will be possible with the installation of electrolyzers and biogas production plants in the company’s industrial complexes and with the development of photoelectrocatalysis technology. This technology is a joint development by Repsol and Enagás, and will have a demonstration plant in the Puertollano industrial complex in 2025 with which hydrogen will be obtained directly from water using solar energy.
From waste to fuels
In the circular economy, Repsol is adapting industrial complexes to use multiple waste from different origins as raw materials to convert them into more sustainable fuels and materials. The ambition is to use three million tons of waste per year and mitigate more than seven million tons of CO2 per year by 2030. Repsol is analyzing more than 40 types of waste and technologies to ensure the production of advanced biofuels and circular petrochemical materials.
Likewise, the company has the objective of producing two million tons of low-carbon fuels in 2030. In the first quarter of 2023, the commissioning of the advanced biofuels plant in Cartagena is planned, which will prevent the emission into the atmosphere of 900,000 tons of CO2 per year.