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Residents of La Joya during the public meeting, in which some 300 people signed objections against the green hydrogen project. SUR Environment Antequera green hydrogen crisis: over 300 residents lodge formal objections to La Joya H2 projectMunicipal leaders join environmental groups in "frontal opposition" to €1.2 billion plant over Torcal landscape and water supply fears
Antequera
Tuesday, 3 March 2026, 13:33
PLANS for one of Malaga’s largest green hydrogen infrastructures have been met with a wave of local resistance, with more than 300 residents of La Joya filing formal objections this week.
The ‘La Joya H2’ project, a 250-megawatt (MW) facility proposed for the southern foothills of El Torcal, has sparked an "institutional and social outcry."
Opponents warn the development will irreversibly damage the local ecosystem, agricultural economy, and water security.
At a public meeting held on Saturday, February 28, 2026, residents from La Joya and surrounding hamlets joined experts and mayors to sign a collective petition against the 542-hectare industrial complex.
The meeting, organised by two environmentalist and protest groups 'Plataforma por la Protección de la Zona Sur del Torcal' and the 'Asociación Valle Natural Río Grande', brought together residents, farmers, technical experts and municipal representatives from different parts of the surrounding area.
As previously reported, the project envisages a large-scale infrastructure with a planned capacity of 250 megawatts (MW) and an estimated occupation of 542 hectares of rural land.
The complex would include solar panels and wind turbines, electricity substations, energy storage systems, a hydrogen pipeline and a 48-kilometre network of pipes for water collection and discharge.
The scale of this development and its location in the southern part of El Torcal have been the main sources of local opposition. Those attending the meeting insisted that the construction of such an infrastructure would substantially alter the landscape and the area's economic model, which is based on agriculture, livestock farming and rural tourism.
Objections
During the meeting, Adrián Peña Botello, the platform's lawyer, spoke, outlining the nature of the objections lodged with environmental file AAI/MA/05/25. He explained that the objections focus on potential technical and legal deficiencies in the submitted documentation, as well as the need for a more detailed assessment of the environmental and industrial safety risks.
One of the points that generated most concern was the water supply. The project envisages a double pipeline from the Guadalhorce wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), located over 40 kilometres away, a solution that some of the local residents consider technically complex in an area that suffers from recurring water shortages.
In previous meetings, concerns had already been raised about the potential for pressure to be placed on the local aquifers that supply agricultural operations and nearby municipalities, should the need arise.
The proximity to populated areas was also a topic for debate. As has been pointed out in recent weeks, residents estimate that the direct impact could reach some 2,000 people in the area around La Joya and surrounding hamlets, within an area that has a total of over 8,000 residents potentially being affecetd in some way or other.
Municipal officials also participated in the meeting. Mayor of Almogía, Antonia García, expressed her opposition to the project, while the mayor of Villanueva de la Concepción, Gonzalo Sánchez, confirmed that his council will submit its own objections and has set up an office to facilitate registration of any written objections by its residents.
The day concluded with the signing of almost 300 individual objections, reflecting a mobilisation that is becoming more widespread. The main municipality of Antequera currently has three major green hydrogen projects , together with those planned by Antequera's 'dry port' logistics hub and the northern part of the municipality. In the case of La Joya, the planning process continues while the debate between energy transition and land protection gains intensity in the south of El Torcal.