Launch of the Nortegas H2SAREA project.
Last Monday, 2 May, saw the launch of the Nortegas H2Sarea project, the aim of which is to analyse the performance of both residential and industrial equipment and facilities that currently use natural gas, once the gas has been blended in increasing percentages with hydrogen. The project also aims to develop new technological solutions to meet the energy needs of the future hydrogen economy.
The opening ceremony was presided over by Iñaki Alzaga, President of Nortegas, Javier Contreras, CEO of Nortegas, and Jose Ignacio Zudaire, President of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor. Others present at the event included Iñigo Urkullu, First Minister of the Basque Country; Arantxa Tapia, Minister of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment of the Basque Government; Unai Rementeria, Head of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia; Igotz López Torre, Mayor of Zamudio; and Esther Apraiz, Mayor of Derio.
The launch of H2Sarea is the consolidation of an innovative and essential project as a preliminary step towards enabling the future use and transformation of the current natural gas network, as part of the most efficient solution in the development of the hydrogen economy.
Iñaki Alzaga, President of Nortegas, explained that "H2Sarea is part of the energy transformation we are currently undergoing. This project enables Nortegas to research and develop new technological solutions that will help us to adapt our infrastructure to the energy needs of the immediate future: in other words, green hydrogen. The challenge is ambitious, but we must meet it jointly and collaboratively, enabling development and co-investment in projects that will mark a before and after in the progress towards a clean and sustainable energy model, which also generates employment and well-being for society."
For his part, José Ignacio Zudaire, President of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor, pointed out that "from the outset, the Basque Country has had a differential strategy, the Basque Hydrogen Corridor, based on the creation of an ecosystem around the hydrogen economy to promote its development. A strategy to transform a challenge, decarbonisation, into an opportunity for the industrial and technological development of our region. Projects such as the one being launched here today are a clear example of this strategy, in which technology is being developed to address the needs of hydrogen transport through a collaborative project led, in this case, by Nortegas".
Industrial development around hydrogen will have a considerable impact on job creation worldwide. Estimates put the number of highly qualified people working in this sector by 2030 at around one million and, specifically in the Basque Country, it is believed that hydrogen could generate between 10,000 and 55,000 jobs by 2050.
H2Sarea, part of the HAZITEK program of the Basque Government and led by Nortegas, is part of a consortium in which leading companies of the Basque industrial fabric, such as ABC Compresores, C.A.E., S.L., FIDEGAS, H2Site, Erreka Fastening Solutions and Orkli, are working together. Other partners include two of the main technology centres of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network: Tecnalia and Ikerlan; and the Spanish National Hydrogen Centre, a reference in this field in Spain.
