The completion of the installation of the largest green hydrogen production unit in Europe, by Galp, in Sines, is one of these news. Not because it is just “the biggest”, but because it marks the definitive transition between speech and execution in one of the most critical areas of the European energy transition.
For years, there has been talk of green hydrogen as the technology of the future. An essential but distant vector, dependent on subsidies, technological maturity, and difficult political decisions. What is happening in Sines proves exactly the opposite: green hydrogen is beginning to assume itself as an industrial infrastructure, integrated into existing value chains and with a clear impact on reducing emissions.
The new electrolysis unit, with 100 MW of installed capacity, will produce up to 15 thousand tons of renewable hydrogen per year, replacing about 20% of the grey hydrogen currently used in the refinery. This translates into an estimated reduction of 110,000 tons of CO₂ emissions per year. These numbers, more than symbolic, place Portugal in a very concrete position on the European map of industrial decarbonisation.
But the true significance of this project goes beyond the clear benefits to the environment. It confirms Sines as one of the great strategic nodes of the new Iberian and European energy system. Abundant renewable energy, port infrastructure, installed industrial capacity, connection to international markets and now production of green molecules on an industrial scale. Few places in Europe bring together this combination and it is another opportunity for Portugal to assert itself in a new world.
There is also a geopolitical and economic reading here that should not be ignored. Europe needs, and cannot wait any longer, to urgently reduce its external dependencies on energy and critical raw materials. Projects like this show that it is possible to reindustrialise, decarbonise, and maintain competitiveness, as long as there is vision, scale, and execution capacity. The investment of 650 million euros, which also includes SAF and HVO units, points precisely in this direction: to create a new generation of low-carbon fuels for sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation, maritime transport, and heavy road transport.
It is particularly relevant to underline the international dimension of this ecosystem that today converges in Portugal. The electrolysis modules, developed by Plug Power, produced in the United Arab Emirates and integrated in Sines, illustrate well how the country is asserting itself as an execution platform in a deeply globalised energy market. Portugal is no longer just a final destination and becomes a point of articulation between technology, capital, industry, and energy, in a context where value chains no longer know borders and where the ability to execute is as decisive as the ability to innovate.
In my view, this project represents a change of phase. Portugal is no longer just a country with good renewable potential and becomes a country that transforms this potential into concrete industrial assets. And this has a direct impact on attracting investment, creating qualified employment, valuing infrastructures, and even positioning industrial and logistics real estate associated with these new energy clusters.
Green hydrogen in Sines is not just a technological advance. It is a strategic statement. And, most importantly, it is proof that when there is decision, scale and execution, Portugal can be at the forefront of the great European transformations.
