The decarbonisation of Basque industry to now draw on the extensive experience of the US EPRI research centre

The decarbonisation of Basque industry will now be able to draw on the experience of EPRI, (US Energy Power Research Institute), thanks to the agreement reached with the SPRI Group as part of the Net-Zero Basque Industrial Super Cluster initiative.

This partnership, which will serve to accelerate that decarbonisation process, has been endorsed during the meeting today on Monday 5th between the EPRI President and CEO, Arshad Mansoor, and the Basque Government’s Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, and the SPRI General Manager, Aitor Urzelai, as the promoter partners of the initiative.

Representatives of Petronor, Iberdrola and the Energy Event, as the main project partners, were also at the event held at the Bizkaia Science and Technology Park in Zamudio.

About EPRI

Founded in 1972, EPRI is the world’s preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, with offices around the world. EPRI’s experts work with more than 450 companies in 45 countries, driving innovation to ensure the public has clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable access to electricity across the globe.

As a result of the partnership, EPRI will contribute its experience for an optimum development of the Initiative, which seeks to accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy consumption of industry, while also driving the creation of market opportunities for the Basque Country based on the scaling up of new technologies and innovative services.

Net-Zero Basque Industrial Super Cluster

 During the meeting, the results were presented of the energy consumption and process comparisons conducted in the framework  of the SuperCluster (NET-Zero Basque) with refinery, pulp & paper, cement, steelmaking and casting companies.

That information will be the baseline to develop the first 5 roadmaps to identify the technologies and measures that best adapt to reducing CO2 emissions associated to energy consumption in the analysed industrial processes. The roadmaps will allow a Basque value chain to be reinforced and constructed to provide those industrial sectors with high value-added services.

EPRI will initially be involved in those activities of the SuperCluster (Net-Zero Basque) and it will make the experience of its staff in the US and Europe in hydrogen technologies, energy efficiency and electrification available to the initiative, from an objective and independent perspective.

The creation of market opportunities for Basque companies, based on the scaling up of new technologies and the provision of innovative services for the decarbonisation of industrial subsectors, is the contribution of differential value that  the SuperCluster (NET-Zero Basque) pursues on the path towards decarbonisation and the energy transition in the Basque Country. Having the EPRI’s extensive experience in technological development will allow faster progress in that sense and to also do so with an important international reach.

The Net-Zero Basque Industrial Super Cluster initiative was presented by the Basque Government’s Minister for Economic Development, Arantxa Tapia, at COP26 in November 2021. It is led by the Basque Government through the SPRI Group, along with the two leading energy companies of the Basque Country, Iberdrola and Petronor, and the support of the 16 industrial clusters. It is one of the twelve regional initiatives that are part of the  World Economic Forum project to achieve net zero emissions in 2050, which seeks to share experiences and best practices and exploit synergies between industrial regions that adopt commitments for the transition.