Acciona and Enel both announced new green hydrogen partnerships on Tuesday, as the world's renewable energy giants continued to position themselves to meet an expected boom in demand for the key energy transition fuel.

Madrid-based Acciona said it hopes by 2030 to capture up to 20% of the green hydrogen market in Spain and Portugal via a joint venture with Plug Power, a US-based specialist in fuel cell and electrolyser technology.

The 50/50 JV, due to be launched by mid-2021, will invest more than €2bn ($2.4bn) as it targets growth in the mobility and industrial sectors. It will also offer storage and logistics services for hydrogen produced using Acciona’s clean power supply network, claimed to be the largest in Spain.

Enel in a separate announcement said its Enel Green Power renewables arm will team up with Saras, an Italian petrochemicals group.

The Italian power giant and Saras signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 20MW electrolyser powered by onsite renewables at a refinery in Sardinia.

It is the latest venture into renewable hydrogen by Enel, which is already working with oil major Eni in Italy, and with automaker Porsche in a green H₂ initiative in Chile.

Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power, said: “We are constantly seeking partnerships to identify the best applications for this [green hydrogen], particularly in industrial sectors that cannot be electrified and with emissions that are harder to reduce, including the chemical industry sector."

With 49GW under its wing globally, Enel Green Power is one of the biggest operators of renewables globally, while Acciona is also a major player with more than 10GW.

They are among a growing number of renewables operators pursuing green hydrogen alliances and projects, with other such as Iberdrola and RWE also active.

Oil giants and industrial players are also laying plans to serve a hydrogen market that is estimated to grow to as large as 500-million-tonne by 2050, six times the current size and dominated by green H₂.

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Enel and Acciona forge green hydrogen alliances as renewables giants position for boom