The Repsol group, through Petronor, its Basque subsidiary, presented its strategy for the development of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor (BH2C). The presentation took place at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, Spain. According to the company, BH2C's development is unlike other similar projects and aims to be comprehensive, incorporating the entire value chain.
The energy proposal is a collaboration of all the industrial sectors of the Basque Country and its implementation was made official with the signing of 78 public and private entities. Collaborating companies include Saudi Aramco, Enegás, CAF, Aena, Aernnova among others. In the steel sector, SARRALLE will collaborate with organizations such as ArceloMittal, Tubacex, Tubos Reunidos, Celsa and Sidenor.
The BH2C project is described by Sarralle – a leading design, engineering, manufacturing and installation company – as a 'great energy-industrial commitment to the future'. It will be carried out through the development of 34 initiatives, segmented into six verticals where SARRALLE, through its Environment & Energy business line, is already working with the aim of developing technologies for the use of of hydrogen in the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) and Reheating Furnace (RF) as an alternative energy to fossil gas and coal.
Where the steel industry is concerned, Sarralle claims to offer the best modern technology solutions through its five business lines of steel melting plant, rolling mills, processing lines, environment and energy, and workshop and storage systems.
According to Sarralle, hydrogen is a key vector and an essential element for the energy transition and in the fight against climate change. The European Union has opted for hydrogen as a fuel for the future to achieve a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and within the framework of this strategy, Europe can become the leader of transformation. The Basque Country has sufficient strengths and strategic positioning to develop this process, it is claimed.
The initiative was launched to create the Basque Hydrogen Corridor and, according to Sarralle, has ambitious objectives as it contemplates making investments in the region of 1,300 million euros between 2021-26, a period in which 1,340 direct jobs and about 6,400 indirect jobs are expected to be created.