Go Energy Group will invest €10 billion in an industrial platform in San Juan del Puerto and Gibraleón, while the capital of Huelva suffers from a lack of hotel rooms and the AVE still has no date.
The province of Huelva has established itself as the largest investment hub for renewable hydrogen in Spain, but its infrastructure is unable to keep pace with the energy revolution that attracts thousands of professionals and companies. The latest major announcement has been made by Go Energy Group, which plans an industrial platform valued at €10 billion in the municipalities of San Juan del Puerto and Gibraleón, integrating artificial intelligence, photovoltaics, green hydrogen, and batteries.
This initiative adds to other multimillion-euro projects in the province, such as the €1 billion authorized by Moeve for its mega project in Huelva and the €2 billion from the Chinese Hygreen Energy for a hydrogen production plant. Together, they make Huelva the European epicentre of the energy transition, according to data from the sector.
The National Congress on Green Hydrogen, held in the capital of Huelva, brought together 1,400 participants and more than 450 companies, highlighting the growing interest in the province. However, the event also revealed the city's shortcomings: the twelve hotels in the capital, with 643 rooms and 1,157 beds, ran out of space, forcing many attendees to stay in Seville or nearby municipalities.
“The province that holds 20% of the irrigation water reserves in Andalusia has become the green laboratory of southern Europe,” sector sources point out.
To alleviate the hotel pressure, the Sercotel chain plans to reopen the historic Hotel París, in Plaza de las Monjas, as a four-star hotel with 107 rooms starting in 2027. Additionally, the Huelva City Council has expressed its willingness to facilitate the conversion of the old Post Office building, state-owned, into the city's first five-star hotel, as indicated by municipal spokesperson Felipe Arias.
Rail communications are another weak point. The direct AVE to Seville still has no firm date, although the central government has indicated that construction could begin before the end of 2028. Meanwhile, conventional trains are experiencing delays and incidents that the City Council has reported in two plenary motions, where they spoke of “the abandonment of the city by the Government of Spain.”
In this context, the Cristóbal Colón airport project, a private initiative valued at €100 million, has become a business and civic demand. The promoters would locate it in Gibraleón, fifteen kilometres from the capital, with a forecast of 500,000 travellers per year. Last May, they presented the plan to the University of Huelva, and they have already done so before the Junta de Andalucía and political groups. It only remains for the central government to grant the declaration of General Interest that would unblock the authorization.
The industrial growth of Huelva is reflected in the data from the Andalusian Institute of Statistics and Cartography (IECA), which recorded a 4.3% increase in industrial employment in 2025, nearly a point above the regional average. However, experts warn that this cruising speed will only be maintained if the necessary logistical and residential scaffolding is built.
For the average citizen, the hotel bottleneck is not an anecdote: every time a major event arrives in the city, occupancy skyrockets and prices tighten, shifting demand towards Seville and ceasing to generate wealth in the local economy. The lack of AVE extends business travel from Madrid to more than four hours, when with high speed it could be reduced by half. And the airport, if it secures the permits, would be a gateway for conference and business tourism.
The commitment to green hydrogen, artificial intelligence campuses, and battery gigafactories demonstrates that Huelva has appeal, but infrastructure must keep up. The next edition of the National Congress on Green Hydrogen, scheduled for 2027, will again test the city's capacity to host thousands of professionals.
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