Spain’s Hydrogen Ambition: Between reindustrialisation and export-led energy integration with the EU

This paper examines the recent evolution of the domestic and external dimension of hydrogen in Spain. When published in 2020, the Spanish Hydrogen Strategy was focused on the creation of hydrogen clusters that could concentrate production and consumption, attracting economic activity associated with the molecule. For this reason, the external dimension of Spain's hydrogen strategy was relatively modest in its nascent state. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the EU Commission's call in the REPowerEU to increase the level of ambition for renewable hydrogen has led to a change in Spain's hydrogen policy, reinforcing its external and energy security dimensions and contributing to a more geopolitically resilient Europe. This new approach to hydrogen development creates a complex tension between the promises of industrial development and the potential for integrating Spain in the European energy system.