Keeping Pace with the Growing Demand for Renewable Fuels

Ahead of ESF Europe 2024 , Berta Cabello Calvo , Head of Renewable Fuels,?discussed the latest projects Repsol is undertaking in meeting their net-zero goals and the unique attributes Spain offers to maximise the opportunities.

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1. Repsol is building the first low-emissions advanced biofuels plant in Spain at the?Cartagena refinery,?using various raw materials, like vegetable oil waste and used cooking oil. How important is this project to help keep pace with the growing demand for renewable fuels? ?

Our new advanced biofuels plant in Cartagena is the first of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the biggest in Europe. It has a capacity to produce 250,000 tons of renewable fuel from organic waste per year - either diesel for road transport or sustainable aviation fuel, depending on market demand. It will save 900,000 tons of CO2 every year, which is the equivalent of the lifecycle savings of 400,000 electric vehicles.

If we look at the capacity in terms of SAF, when the 2% obligation of RefuelEU?Aviation enters into force in 2025, approximately 120,000 tons of SAF will be needed in Spain. The production at the new plant in Cartagena alone will, thus, be able to cover all the SAF demand in the Iberian Peninsula until the European mandate rises to 3%.

The feedstock for this plant is mainly used cooking oil, but also other lipids, such as animal fats. For the provisioning, we have been working to build a new supply chain that allows us to step up a steady supply of different waste raw materials. Many of these can be provisioned locally, while others are bought internationally.

The plant in Cartagena is Repsol’s first plant exclusively dedicated to the production of advanced biofuels, but we have others in the pipeline, including one coming online next year at our industrial complex in Puertollano . This one will be the result of the retrofitting of an existing unit and will have a production capacity of 240,000 tons of renewable diesel. All these initiatives are part of our ambitious roadmap to reach our goal of producing more than 2 million tons of renewable fuels in 2030, up from some 750,000 at the end of 2023.

2. During the recent ESF Europe advisory meeting, we heard a lot about local solutions and local relevance. Despite the global nature of decarbonisation, local solutions based on local resources are critical. What are the unique attributes of Spain that Repsol are leveraging?to maximise?the opportunities during this transition? ?

We see the production of renewable fuels and other circular low-carbon products as an enormous opportunity for industrial growth on a local level in Spain. It will contribute to technological development and the creation of quality jobs. The refining and petrochemical industry in Spain today employs?some?200,000, and this is an opportunity to maintain jobs at current production plants?and create new ones, as well.

Repsol is transforming its network of interconnected tier-one industrial complexes in Spain into circular economy hubs that can manufacture different kinds of products with a low, zero or even a negative carbon footprint. In this respect, Spain is uniquely positioned to both produce the renewable energy needed and supply a wide range of residual raw materials. It has important agricultural, agrifood, and forestry sectors that produce large amounts of residue on a daily basis. Additionally, it is also a country where people use a lot of olive and other vegetable oils in households and restaurants.

By creating a new value chain, involving new actors, that can convert this waste into raw materials for energy or petrochemical products, this is also a great opportunity to create jobs in rural areas affected by depopulation through the management and processing of waste from agricultural and livestock operations, as well as from the country’s many wooded areas.

Finally, the fact that these products can be manufactured locally, using mainly autochthonous raw materials and local renewable energy, also increases Spain's security of supply and energy independence.

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3. Repsol is transforming its seven industrial complexes in Spain, Portugal, and Peru into multi-energy hubs through state-of-the-art?projects that will reduce their carbon footprint and will enable the company to be a benchmark in the production of renewable fuels and renewable hydrogen by 2030, how important are these projects in Repsol’s roadmap towards decarbonisation? ?

The transformation of our industrial complexes is a key pillar in our roadmap to reach zero net emissions by 2050. We have outlined a roadmap with intermediate goals to reach carbon neutrality and to address the process of profound change in this highly competitive business, we rely on four major levers: energy efficiency, circular economy, renewable hydrogen, and CO2 capture and use.

Through this industrial transformation, we will be able to maintain economic activity and quality jobs in the country and continue offering our clients the energy they need on the road or at home, helping them reduce their carbon footprints in a secure and affordable way.

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4. Could you share insights into the critical success factors that led to the selection?of Repsol's Ecoplanta?and?150 MW electrolyser?unit in Tarragona by the European Commission for funding under the Innovation Fund program? ?

The European Commission has acknowledged that our projects are aligned with the European Union’s decarbonization and climate change mitigation goals with a very good maturity level. They have also highlighted the projects innovative technologies, scalability and application to other locations.

Similarly, we also received a €120 million loan from the European Investment Bank for our new advanced biofuels plant in Cartagena and other financial support from the Official Spanish Credit Institute (ICO) and the Spanish energy agency IDAE for various projects aimed at achieving zero net emissions.

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5. Finally, what do you hope the discussion from a conference like ESF Europe will help the industry to achieve over the next 12 months? ?

ESF conference is a great opportunity to see the evolution of the technologies that will be involved in the transformation we are pursuing. ?

Apart from that, the ESF conference gives us a great opportunity to stay updated on the evolution of industry and best practice solutions and it allows to interact with our peers that we don’t see in person that often.

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???Would you like to hear more?

Don’t miss the chance to hear more from Berta and the Repsol team at ESF Europe 2024 , the only event dedicated to downstream decarbonisation and sustainability.

Berta will join the Low Carbon Plants of Excellence panel, exploring?the flagship projects reducing the carbon footprint of assets and products.

Pedro Antonio Merino Garcia, Chief?Economist?& Miguel García Carre?o, Senior Manager - Circular Economy & Industrial Decarbonisation will also be speaking at the event on Policy, Pace, Profit – Driving the Next Tranche of the Transition and scaling circularity through collaboration and innovating to net zero.

For more information, visit: europetro.com/esfeurope