His Majesty the King inaugurates Fertiberia’s green ammonia and green fertiliser plant in Puertollano, the first in the sector worldwide
- The green plant will produce up to 3,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year and will supply the company’s factory in the city
- The project is part of Grupo Fertiberia’s “Net Zero” strategy; to become the first carbon neutral company in its sector by 2035, and has been pioneered in partnership with Iberdrola
- It is supported by its owner, the European investment firm Triton, that has a strong ESG focus and extensive experience working with and transforming industrial companies.
Madrid (Spain), 13 May 2022 - Grupo Fertiberia, a Triton Fund V portfolio company and a leader in the EU crop nutrition sector, takes a decisive step in its strategy to reduce its emissions to zero before 2035. It will be the world’s first large company in the crop nutrition sector to manufacture CO2-free ammonia and crop nutrition solutions on an industrial scale. Today His Majesty King Felipe VI inaugurated the project that has been developed at the Puertollano industrial complex in partnership with Iberdrola. The project is the largest green hydrogen plant for industrial use in Europe and enables Grupo Fertiberia to replace the use of natural gas in its ammonia production with green hydrogen.
The event was attended by the CEO of Grupo Fertiberia, Javier Goñi, the president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, the president of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, the delegate of the Government in Castilla-La Mancha, Francisco Tierraseca; the mayor of Puertollano, Adolfo Muñiz; the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy and Civil Service, Alfredo González; the Minister of Economy, Business and Employment of Castilla-La Mancha; Patricia Franco Jiménez, the Minister of Sustainable Development of Castilla-La Mancha, José Luis Escudero, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Grupo Fertiberia, Romeo Kreinberg and Roland Oelschläger, Investment Advisory Professional at Triton.
"The milestone we achieved today at our Puertollano plant makes us the first company in the world to manufacture green ammonia and CO2-free crop nutrition solutions on an industrial scale. The project is unique in the sector due to its sheer size. This initiative is part of our Net Zero strategy which, thanks to the support of our owner Triton, will make us the first major European company in our sector to reduce emissions to zero by 2035", said Javier Goñi, CEO of Grupo Fertiberia. He added "the investment in Puertollano is also the first step towards pioneering the green ammonia market in Europe”.
Green ammonia is obtained by replacing natural gas with renewable electrical energy and is the basis for producing fertilisers with no carbon footprint. It is also used for other environmental solutions to reduce emissions in industry, such as AdBlue for diesel combustion engines. The company is working with the main green hydrogen consortiums for its four major industrial centres in Spain and is leading the future construction of a new plant in Norrbotten (Sweden).
“Today marks an important step in Fertiberia's history and we congratulate the team on this success. We are looking forward to further supporting the management team and employees on Fertiberia’s journey to become the leading European company in sustainable fertilization, with a solid and strong social, environmental and governance commitment,” says Roland Oelschläger, Investment Professional at Triton.
Triton invested in Grupo Fertiberia in 2020 to support management’s strategy of accelerating product innovation and invest in the company’s manufacturing processes to become more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Iberdrola have developed a plant that will be able to generate 100% green hydrogen through one of the largest electrolysis systems in the world. The project will have zero CO2 emissions due to the use of renewable energy from an innovative 100 MW photovoltaic solar plant that is integrated into the facility. The green hydrogen produced at the Iberdrola plant is used in Grupo Fertiberia’s ammonia factory in Puertollano, which has carried out considerable innovation work in adapting its processes to this new energy vector.
When presenting the plant, David Herrero, industrial director of Grupo Fertiberia, stated that the company “is moving forward in the decarbonisation of the essential agriculture sector”.
According to the International Energy Agency, the demand for fertilisers is expected to grow by 40% until 2050, to meet the needs of a growing population. “The world will need greater production, which must be compatible with the fulfilment of the objectives for the reduction of emissions, which is why our company is preparing to meet the future needs of the European agricultural market”, Herrero has assured.
In addition to producing an essential input for the agriculture sector, “we are replacing natural gas with indigenous resources in its production, which means we are helping to move towards food and energy independence in the EU”, he concluded.
About Grupo Fertiberia
With more than 1,600 employees and 13 industrial activity centres distributed throughout the entire Iberian Peninsula and France, Grupo Fertiberia is a leader in the EU crop nutrition sector, where it develops, produces and markets innovative agronomic solutions that enhance the agricultural sector’s competitiveness and support the ecological transition of a sector that is vital to the European economy. It is also one of the world’s leading operators in the ammonia market and it produces environmental solutions for the industry and other sectors. The company belongs to Triton Partners, which is driving its growth to make this Spanish company a leader in the fertilisation of the future. This will allow farmers to obtain greater yields with maximum environmental sustainability.
For further information: https://www.fertiberia.com/en/
About Triton
Since its establishment in 1997, Triton has sponsored ten funds, focusing on businesses in the industrial tech, services, consumer, and healthcare sectors. Triton invests in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses headquartered in Europe.
Triton seeks to contribute to the building of better businesses for the longer term. Triton and its executives wish to be agents of positive change towards sustainable operational improvement and growth. The 50 companies currently in Triton’s portfolio have combined sales of around EUR 18.1 billion and employ around 104,500 employees.
For further information: www.triton-partners.com
