Abanto y Zierbena (Bizkaia) (EFE).- The Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, has trusted that the new infrastructure of the Energy Intelligence Center (EIC) will be “key” in the transition towards the new technological-digital industry and will become ” the cradle of Basque industrialization”.
Urkullu has inaugurated the new Abanto campus of the Euskadi Technology Parks in the EIC building, which has involved an investment of 70 million euros, and which will house strategic projects of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor.
As he highlighted, the infrastructure will be a key element “in the transition from heavy industry to the new technological-digital industry” and a reference for companies that adapt to the new times “in a basic sector with maximum global competitiveness”.
“Your success consolidates a model” of collaboration between the public sphere and the private sphere, as well as a “commitment to innovation and the internationalization of our productive fabric”, he highlighted.
Urkullu recalled that the Basque Government has updated its forecasts and plans to grow 1.5% this year and 2.1% next year, and “on that basis” he has predicted that it will be possible to “continue generating employment and contribute to creating 10,000 jobs each year.
“The Basque Country continues to consolidate” and it does so to a large extent “thanks to leading companies” such as those installed in the center.
The EIC has 7,000 square meters to boost the competitiveness of the energy sector, towards the use of cleaner energy.
The general deputy for Bizkaia, Unai Rementeria, has assured that the new building places Bizkaia as an active subject of the energy transition and that tomorrow it will continue to maintain an industry linked to hydrogen.
Industrial ecosystem for new fuels
The new building, located near the Port of Bilbao, in Santurtzi, and connected to the A-8 motorway, will house two strategic infrastructures: the headquarters of the new campus and the EIC, where Petronor, AMPO, Tubacex, Tubos Reunidos will be installed and Vicinay.
The objective of the EIC is to create a technological-industrial ecosystem oriented towards new fuels and the development of the energy transition, particularly around hydrogen as one of the energy sources with the greatest future.
This headquarters will work on projects with a tractor effect in the Biscayan Left Bank region and Mining Zone and for the Basque economy with R+D+I activities.
The opportunity of the energy transition
The President of Petronor, Emiliano López Atxurra, has stressed that the company wants to be in the future of this country, as it was in the past in the industry of Bizkaia.
“Our challenge is to continue this process from technological and industrial training in the area of energy and from this space for collaboration”, he has valued.
“In the energy transition there are no last names” and the most efficient will be the one with the most position in the market, he stated.
In addition, he stressed that as a small country, “we only have one opportunity” from “a vision of the energy transition, inclusive and inclusive, as the basis of the industrial technological renaissance”.
For this reason, he has defended betting on the energy transition that “is not a sprint of varieties, but a marathon of efforts for hope.”
First hydrogen pipeline in the State
The president of Nortegas, Iñaki Alzaga, explained that the first milestone of this project has already been launched with the first hydrogen pipeline in the State for transport from Petronor to the inaugurated facilities.
Thus, this center can have green hydrogen for its research in this commitment to decarbonise the economy and industry. EFE