Green hydrogen and agriculture: the energy that can transform the Spanish countryside

29 October, 2025

The Spanish agricultural sector has reached a moment of transition, in search of alternatives to ensure sustainability, competitiveness and autonomy. Against this backdrop, green hydrogen is emerging as one of the rosiest pieces in the energy puzzle.

The current challenge lies in understanding what this energy vector means for agriculture and how Spain is preparing to stand at the helm of the transition.

What is green hydrogen and how can it revolutionise agriculture?

Green hydrogen is obtained when electrolysers separate oxygen and hydrogen from water by means of a process known as electrolysis. What makes it “green” is the fact that the electricity that powers the electrolysers comes from renewable sources such as solar and wind power.

And what does this mean for the countryside? Much more than meets the eye.

  • It can be used to produce green fertilisers. Ammonia, the basis for most nitrogen fertilisers, is produced by combining hydrogen with nitrogen. We’ve obtained this hydrogen from natural gas until now. If we do so using renewable hydrogen, they can become green and more sustainable fertilisers.
  • Hydrogen can also be used as a fuelin thermal processes (grain drying and greenhouse heating) and to generate back-up electricity during periods characterised by low renewable production.
  • It also plays a key role in mobility and machinery. In the mid term, tractors, combine harvesters and lorries could run on hydrogen and derived synthetic fuels.
  • Unlike batteries, hydrogen can store renewable energyfor weeks or months, suiting agricultural cycles with high energy consumption focused on certain periods of the year.

Green hydrogen is therefore a way of improving efficiency and sustainability and making the countryside more resilient within the context of the energy transition.

Green hydrogen is a way of improving efficiency and sustainability and making the countryside more resilient within the context of the energy transition

The importance of green fertilisers

The link between hydrogen and agriculture involves a key molecule: ammonia. The Haber-Bosch process has synthesised it using hydrogen and nitrogen from the air for a century. The ammonia is then converted into fertilisers to guarantee agricultural productivity. We’ve obtained this hydrogen from natural gas until now.

Green hydrogen, as it’s generated by means of electrolysis with renewable electricity, allows for the production of ammonia and fertilisers with extremely low emissions. Replacing gas with renewable hydrogen is therefore one of the fastest levers for the decarbonisation of the countryside.

Spain has recently witnessed how several projects have taken decisive steps towards the deployment of green hydrogen in the agricultural industry by means of the production of sustainable fertilisers.

Ongoing projects

One example in Spain is Puertollano in Ciudad Real. Iberdrola and Fertiberia started up the first large green hydrogen plant linked to fertiliser production there in 2022. The solar-powered electrolyser now produces renewable hydrogen which is used by Fertiberia in its chemical processes.

This has resulted in the first green fertilisers to be produced in the country, and these have already been used on pilot crops of barley and potatoes. The joint plan is ambitious: to scale up capacity from an initial 20 MW to 200 MW, in such a way that a significant proportion of the fertilisers that reach the Spanish countryside over the coming decade come from renewable hydrogen.

Another of the regions where this revolution is taking place is Asturias. The GAIA project is seeking to transform the region’s traditional relationship with fertilisers in industry with a cleaner version.

Its purpose is to produce renewable ammonia on a large scale so as to fuel the manufacture of low-carbon fertilisers. The project has received support from the European Innovation Fund, thus confirming its strategic relevance for Brussels. Once it becomes operational, it’s expected to produce 180,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year, enough to supply a large part of the domestic agricultural market and significantly reduce any associated emissions.

Spain moves steadily towards the forefront of green fertiliser production

Public support: from the PRTR to European funds

Public support makes it possible for these projects to move forwards. Spain has channelled hundreds of millions of euros in direct aid towards hydrogen projects through the Recovery Plan (PRTR) and the PERTE ERHA programme. These are some of the large assignments:

  • In 2023, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) decided to grant 200 million euros in aid for 37 renewable hydrogenprojects within the framework of the PERTE ERHA.
  • In the same year, the MITECO awarded 100 million euros in aid to large electrolyser projects for the production of renewable hydrogen (line 3 of the H2 Value Chain programme) that also forms part of the PERTE ERHA.
  • Similarly, in 2023, a 66.6-million-euro PRTR call was launched for the innovative renewable hydrogen value chain under the PERTE ERHA.
  • In June 2025, 1.223 billion euros of Next Generation (PRTR) funds were awarded to seven hydrogen valley Many of them include chemical and fertiliser industries as their target customers, in other words, those with a direct impact on agriculture.

Brussels has bolstered this commitment with new Innovation Fund and IPCEI programme lines, enabling some of these projects to secure funding.

Thanks to the promotion of renewable energies and effective collaboration between the public and private sectors, Spain is steadily advancing towards the forefront of green fertiliser production. This commitment will not only reinforce the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, it will also place the country in a strategic position in the transition towards climate-neutral agriculture based on local solutions with a global impact.