On 17 February, the Government of Navarre and the company Nordex announced in the Palace of Navarre that they will invest 30 million euros in a new production plant for green hydrogen generation technology. This project, announced by the President of Navarre, María Chivite, and the Regional Minister for Economic and Business Development and the President of SODENA, Mikel Irujo, aspires to lead this industry in an integral way, offering not only its production, but also the design of the technology to generate this new source of energy.
The new Nordex plant (Nordex Electrolyzer), located in Barasoain, will design, manufacture and comercialise electrolyzes, devices that allow hydrogen to be produced by means of a chemical process called electrolysis. In this way, green hydrogen will be achieved, which they have already announced could be the future in sectors such as the chemical and petrochemical industry, the iron and steel industry or heavy transport, thanks to the fact that it does not emit greenhouse gases.
As an investment for this neutral energy project, both the regional government, through the public company SODENA, and the company Nordex will invest 15 million euros respectively over the next five years. The project is divided into different stages: firstly, an engineering team of some 35 people will design and test the electrolyzes and then begin industrial deployment; later, when the project is in the commercial phase and at full capacity, it will employ more than 150 workers.
The installation of this electrolyzed plant, the idea of which was born at the beginning of 2021, represents a further step in the energy transition. President Chivite, who aspires to lead the hydrogen industry, stressed that “Navarre is moving forward with facts towards these energy and environmental objectives and that it is a region with talent, innovative and entrepreneurial capacity”. For his part, Jose Luis Blanco, CEO of Nordex, highlighted the “ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in Navarre”.
