Spanish shipbuilder Navantia plans to start production on a new 500MW electrolyzer assembly line in northwestern Spain in late 2022 or early 2023. The installed capacity of electrolyzers is around 500 MW/year in the short term and is likely to increase rapidly. The new plant, built at the turbine factory in the northwestern Spanish city of Ferrol, will use stacks provided by third-party electrolyzer technologists, at least for the first phase.

Navantia will partner with world-renowned technical experts to engage in high-level dialogue, and the partnership agreement is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. The type of partnership model - licensing agreement, joint venture or other alternative will be defined at that time. There appears to be an emerging trend among electrolyzer manufacturers to form joint ventures or partnerships with third-party companies to build large new plants.

As Plug Power CEO Andy Marsh told Recharge recently, I think the JV approach will spread the risk and reward, but it also presents opportunities that I don't think Plug can take on its own. The company aims to produce alkaline and PEM electrolyzers. We will begin production of electrolyzers that have been tested by technical experts and put into commercial production, and the future goal is to participate in new developments and gain the ability to manufacture entire electrolyzers including stacks.

Navantia’s intentions to build the electrolyser line were disclosed in zero detail, announcing that the shipyard has reached an agreement with Spanish oil company Repsol to jointly explore renewable hydrogen production opportunities. Navantia's ambition is to become a relevant player in electrolyser manufacturing, the Spanish government developing industry and local employment in the value chain for hydrogen production, and the main sponsor of hydrogen production plants like Repsol to ensure the supply of electrolyzers for their projects. Keywords: engineering news, overseas news

Navantia also builds offshore wind turbine foundations and launched a new brand called Navantia Seanergies earlier in 2022 to boost its non-shipbuilding activities. According to shipbroker Clarkson, Navantia has not built a ship since 2019 and has no orders.Editor/XingWentao