Enagás Emprende, Enagás’ Corporate Venture Capital vehicle, has added digHy to its portfolio of investee companies, a startup whose software helps determine where, how and at what cost to build a renewable hydrogen plant and its derivatives.

The platform provides a single environment for project site selection, design, simulation and technical documentation.

Enagás Emprende, Enagás’ Corporate Venture Capital initiative, has become a shareholder in digHy, a Galician technology startup. digHy will use the resources from this transaction to expand its technical team with the aim of further developing its design tool and a new module for the operation and certification of hydrogen plants.

Before investing in a renewable hydrogen plant, as well as in other facilities producing derivatives such as methanol, e-methane, ammonia or SAF, a project developer needs to know where to locate it, how to size it and at what cost it will produce. digHy develops the software that answers these three questions.

These are known in the sector as Power-to-X or P2X projects: facilities that convert renewable electricity into molecules that can be stored, transported and used where direct electrification is not feasible, such as in heavy industry, maritime transport or aviation.

digHy’s customers include national and international companies that are already using the tool as the basis for their designs, increasing their competitiveness and enabling more precise project development.

“The investment in digHy reflects our conviction that the energy transition and digitalisation are two inseparable processes. Tools such as those developed by digHy make it possible to optimise the design, development and operation of green hydrogen projects, reducing barriers and accelerating the market deployment of new infrastructure and solutions for the energy transition.” said Fernando Impuesto, Business Development Director at Enagás.

According to Brais Armiño, CEO and co-founder of digHy, “Today, a project developer decides whether to invest in a hydrogen plant based on an analysis that leaves out half of the variables that will determine its profitability: detailed analysis throughout the plant’s entire lifetime, services that can be provided to the electricity grid, which certification strategy is most appropriate… Doing it properly required tools that did not exist. That is what we have built.”

A single platform

digHy brings together in a single platform site selection (with hourly-modelled solar and wind resource maps), plant sizing and performance simulation throughout its entire lifetime, design optimisation and the automatic generation of project technical documentation. All of this comes with full traceability of data and results, a key requirement in financing processes, applications for public funding, audits or project sales.

digHy is also developing a module for the operational phase: it optimises plant performance and automates the sustainability certification of every molecule produced. This certification determines whether production counts towards European regulatory targets, and Spain is currently defining how this will be accredited.

A leading industrial partner at a key stage

Enagás Emprende, whose main investment areas include renewable gases, and hydrogen in particular, is becoming a strategic partner for digHy at a key stage in its technological development and commercial expansion. In addition to the capital investment, digHy and Enagás will collaborate on the technical and commercial development of the platform, leveraging Enagás’ experience as a gas infrastructure operator and providing the company with the validation of a partner with decades of experience in the transport and storage of energy molecules.

About digHy

digHy is a Galician technology startup that develops software for the site selection, design and operation of renewable hydrogen and derivatives plants —methanol, e-methane, SAF and ammonia—. Its platform enables project developers and operators to simulate plant performance throughout its entire lifetime, optimise its design and automate technical documentation and the certification of every molecule produced. Based in Pontevedra, its team comes from the hydrogen consulting and specialised engineering sectors. More information at www.dighy.com.

About Enagás Emprende

Enagás Emprende is Enagás’ Corporate Venture Capital initiative, through which it invests in startups that accelerate the energy transition, alongside other corporate venture tools. Since its creation in 2015, Enagás Emprende has created or invested in a total of 20 companies, including digHy, driving the energy transition in areas such as new renewable gases (primarily hydrogen), sustainable mobility and energy efficiency, among others. It also complements its investment strategy by participating in funds such as the Klima Energy Transition Fund and the Hy24 Clean Hydrogen Infrastructure Fund.