The Foundation is working on 29 research projects that are a sign of Aragon’s commitment to its strategic commitment to this technology, in which its pioneering status has made it a benchmark in Europe.
Aliaga presided over the Board of Trustees and the awards ceremony promoted by the Foundation to recognise the best doctoral theses, master’s theses and final projects related to this technology.
The Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Development of New Hydrogen Technologies in Aragon has received new members and now includes 89 companies, research centres and entities related to the deployment of a technology, hydrogen, which has a leading role in the decarbonisation of the economy and society.
Specifically, the companies that have now joined the Foundation are Chemik Group, Corporación Alimentaria Guissona (bonÀrea), Harbour Energy Investment (EnerHi), Química del Cinca (QCINCA) and Térvalis Group. Their membership was approved at the meeting held by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, chaired by the Vice-President of the Government of Aragon and Regional Minister for Industry, Competitiveness and Business Development, Arturo Aliaga.
The session has also served to deliver to the members of the Board of Trustees the Hydrogen Master Plan in Aragon 2021-2025, the fourth Plan that the Foundation has and a key document to continue identifying opportunities in the development of hydrogen technologies in Aragon.
The Aragon Hydrogen Foundation Board of Trustees meeting has approved the incorporation of five more trustees, which means that 89 companies now form part of this foundation; in fact, it is the European foundation that brings together the largest number of trustees and is recognised in Europe for its scientific, technological and industrial quality. The action plan for this year was also presented and information was given on the 29 projects and research underway, as well as the contacts to start up vocational training studies linked to the development of hydrogen technology.
The Vice-president claimed that “Aragon has the scientific and technological quality to produce hydrogen in an absolutely specialised way. Work is already underway here to channel surpluses for application to vehicles, for use in transport, such as the so-called hydrogen train, for the production of fertilisers and, through renewables, for use in gas networks. These are all ambitious projects that are being closely followed throughout Europe. This technology has exploded and now is the time to define appropriate investments and to make an effort not to be left out in a race marked by a moment of transformation in which hydrogen will be the central axis. A range of spectacular industrial possibilities is opening up”.
The Foundation, whose team is made up of 30 people working at the headquarters of the Walqa Technology Park in Huesca, is currently experiencing a period of great activity, as it is working simultaneously on more than 25 international and national projects promoted by different institutions such as the European Commission and Spanish government ministries. One of the most important of these is the project it is coordinating with the Technological Institute of Aragon, together with the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the CSIC and seven other autonomous communities, to research green energy and hydrogen applied to the decarbonisation of heavy transport, with a global budget of 89 million euros, of which 5 million are earmarked for research carried out in the Aragonese community.
To these must be added the agreements it maintains with third parties, which have led it, for example, to participate in an important study on the production, logistics and demand for green hydrogen in Spain in a scenario of high penetration of renewable energies over the next 30 years, or to promote, together with Spanish universities and vocational training centres, the first inter-university master’s degree on hydrogen to be taught in our country since the current academic year.
The Foundation, which is prepared to advise all business initiatives that may have a place in the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) for Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage promoted by the Spanish Government as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, participated last year in more than 12 national and international hydrogen-related dissemination forums and has important similar events on the horizon for 2022. Among them, the European Hydrogen Conference EHEC 2022 to be held in May in Madrid and the RENMAD 2022 congress to be held on 23 and 24 February in Zaragoza. Precisely, in relation to the hydrogen PERTE, Aliaga stressed that it represents “a great hope that is materialised in the number of letters of support and adhesion that have been signed with companies that are going to present projects to this strategic project. The commitment of the Government of Aragon, Aliaga explained, translates into action and, above all, into investment, which is why this year we are allocating one million euros to the Foundation”.
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