• The awarded project, named Catalina and located in Aragón (Spain), consists of the development of an initial green hydrogen 500 MW plant, expandable to 2 GW. The first phase will begin operations in 2027.
• The plant will supply green hydrogen for the decarbonization of large industrial consumers on the Mediterranean coast.
• The engineering services commissioned to Técnicas Reunidas include the plant configuration study, preparation of documentation and permits, and full cost estimates.

 

The Catalina project, developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), has awarded Técnicas Reunidas an engineering contract for the development of a large-scale green hydrogen generation plant to be built in Andorra (Teruel, Spain).

The engineering contract includes the plant configuration study, the preparation of relevant technical documentation for permits and a full cost estimate.

The first stage of the Catalina project is undertaken by CIP in partnership with Enagás Renovable, Naturgy and Fertiberia. It involves the development of a 500 MW green hydrogen generation plant that will produce more than 50,000 tonnes per year.

The hydrogen produced will be transported via a pipeline 221 kilometres long to major industrial customers in the Mediterranean area, including a newly built, state-of-the-art green ammonia plant with an annual production capacity of up to 247,000 tonnes, as well as to other refining facilities and tile companies.

It is estimated that in this first stage Catalina will contribute to the avoidance of almost 0.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

In a second phase of the project, the green hydrogen production capacity will increase to 2 GW. This production will cover 30% of Spain’s current demand for green hydrogen.

José Gómez-Arroyo, Catalina Project Director, has stated that “Catalina is a first-of-a-kind large scale green hydrogen project that will contribute enormously to the energy transition and emissions avoidance of Spanish industry, and to European energy independence.

Catalina is one of the early-stage large scale projects that’s help make viable the Spanish hydrogen backbone infrastructure as well as international interconnectors. Catalina is partnering with leading companies in their fields to ensure delivery of this highly complex project. We are happy to announce our partnership with Técnicas Reunidas and we look forward to working with them in the next phase of Catalina’s development. Gonzalo Pardo, Commercial Director for Power and the Energy Transition of Técnicas Reunidas, stressed that “this contract is yet another example of our company’s firm commitment to projects related to energy transition and decarbonisation, as it adds to the long list of initiatives that we have been developing for three years in relation to green hydrogen, the circular economy and carbon capture”.

About CIP

Founded in 2012, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (CIP) today is the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind. The funds managed by CIP focuses on investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X.

CIP manages ten funds and has to date raised approximately EUR 19 billion for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 140 international institutional investors. CIP will accelerate its role in the global energy transition and aim to have EUR 100 billion under management in green energy investments in 2030.

CIP has more than 400 employees and offices in Copenhagen, London, Hamburg, Utrecht, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Munich, Luxembourg, and Melbourne.

For more information, visit www.cip.dk

About Técnicas Reunidas

The Spanish company Técnicas Reunidas is one of the most important companies in its sector on an international scale, with a presence in 25 countries and a track record that totals more than 1,000 industrial plants throughout its more than 60 years of experience.

Técnicas Reunidas’ activity is mainly focused on the development of engineering projects, design and construction of industrial plants for the production of clean fuels, natural gas and chemical products, and solutions linked to the energy transition, circular economy and decarbonisation (renewable hydrogen, biofuels, waste recovery, CO2 capture and storage, etc.).

Its more than 6,800 employees, most of them highly qualified engineers, make its headquarters in Spain a centre of engineering excellence.

• The MINETHIC project will investigate new sources of recovery of unconventional critical raw materials and develop new technologies to recover them efficiently and sustainably, including digital technologies.
• The European Union has warned that a good supply of raw materials is critical.
• The project will be developed by a consortium led by Técnicas Reunidas and also comprising five other Spanish companies (FCC Medio Ambiente, Apria Systems, IDP, IMA Magnets and Torrecid). The scientific coordination will be carried out by the Centro Tecnológico de Investigación Multisectorial (CETIM)
• The project has been incorporated into the Missions Programme of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) with the highest score achieved by any initiative submitted to it since its creation in 2020.

Técnicas Reunidas will lead from its José Lladó Technology Centre the development of a research project of great strategic importance for Europe: the recovery of minerals and metals considered as critical raw materials (CPM), key for the technology sector and the ecological transition.

The European Commission has recently warned that the transition towards climate neutrality could transform the current dependence on fossil fuels into a dependence on metals.

The research will be undertaken by a consortium comprising five other Spanish companies (FCC Medio Ambiente, Apria Systems, IDP, IMA Magnets and Torrecid) with the scientific coordination of the Multisectoral Research Technology Centre (CETIM).

In addition, the project has three strategic partners (Áridos do Mendo, MAGNA and EDAR Bens) and the contribution of five research organisations (CETIM, Eurecat, IMdea Materiales, Tecnalia and the University of Cantabria).

Proof of the strategic importance attached to this initiative is that it has been incorporated into the Missions Programme of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) with the highest rating achieved by any proposal submitted to it since its creation in 2020.

Strategic materials for the ecological transition

Critical raw materials – rare earths, cobalt, nickel, manganese, phosphorus, etc. – are an essential resource for the development of the activities of technology companies and the manufacture of equipment for the ecological transition. Dependence on other countries entails a high risk of supply and acquisition cost, due to the growing international demand for these raw materials.

The MINETHIC project aims to recover these minerals – from various by-products and waste – with the necessary high levels of purity.

The consortium companies and their contributions

The companies participating in the consortium are the following:

Técnicas Reunidas, promoter and leader of the project, will research innovative technologies for the pre-treatment, concentration and purification of critical raw materials from mining by-products and urban and industrial waste, as well as their final application in catalysts. It will also carry out the design of recovery routes and their study on a larger scale.

• FCC Environment will analyse pre-treatment and concentration technologies for different fractions of urban and municipal waste that favour the extraction and purification of the critical raw materials present in them.
• Apria Systems will study the concentration and purification of metals from different mining by-products and urban and industrial waste.
• IDP will simulate and model the processes of pre-treatment, concentration and purification of elements to optimise these processes, reduce energy consumption and lower associated costs.
• IMA Magnets will bring its expertise in the implementation of recovered raw materials for the sustainable manufacture of magnets.
• Torrecid will investigate the reuse of recovered metal oxides for the synthesis of new components that are key to the ecological transition.

The project, estimated to take 32 months to complete, has an initial budget of 5 million euros.

The Future: Fast Forward group today presented its country project aimed at electrifying the Spanish automotive industry, driving sustainable mobility and promoting a historic change of direction in the industry.

The event featured opening speeches by María Jesús Montero, Minister of Finance and Public Function, and Wayne Griffiths, President of SEAT S.A., while Marc Riera, President of the Future: Fast Forward group, was in charge of bringing the event to a close after the four panels in which the different projects that will shape the new electric and sustainable mobility were discussed and debated. The event was also attended by various representatives of the public administrations of several autonomous communities, as well as the media and the group’s members, who attended this benchmark event in the industry sector in Spain.

The Minister of Finance and Public Administration said: “We have the technological know-how, the industrial capacity, the business leadership and the support of the public administrations for a shared objective, which is to contribute together to an increasingly sustainable, cleaner and less polluting economy, where electric mobility will play a decisive role”. He also stressed that “this project is a dream come true that demonstrates the strength, resilience and capacity for reinvention of the Spanish automotive sector”.

For his part, the President of SEAT S.A. said during his speech that “2023 is an important year for the electrification of Spain. We are at a key moment and as an industry we have the responsibility to be a transforming lever for the country. And this is what the Future: Fast Forward project we are presenting today is all about”.

The group is going to develop 86 projects in 9 autonomous communities with 52 of its partners, for which an investment of 10 billion euros has been mobilised. Of this total, 7 billion euros come from the Volkswagen Group, SEAT S.A. and PowerHoldco and 3 billion euros from the rest of the partners. Of this sum, 357 million has been provided by the Spanish Government through the Next Generation Resilience and Transformation Funds.

“From Future: Fast Forward we are going to act throughout the entire automotive value chain. We are going to generate an innovative change in today’s industry with a positive social, economic and environmental impact in the future”, said the president of the Future: Fast Forward group, Marc Riera, at the closing of the institutional event. Riera also commented on the purpose of “laying the foundations of a distinctive business collaboration model, capable of adding value, of contributing knowledge, talent and experience, in order to go further”.

Partners discuss the impact of the project 

Through four panels, business leaders from the large companies and SMEs that are part of the grouping have unpacked the details of the impact and scope of this historic opportunity.

The panel entitled “A country project” included Francisco J. Riberas, Executive Chairman of Gestamp; Alfonso Sancha, Executive Vice-President of Purchasing at SEAT S.A.; Marc Riera, Chairman of Future: Fast Forward and Alfonso Sesé, Chairman of Sesé. The speakers explained the potential of Future: Fast Forward as a transformative project not only for the automotive sector, but also for the Spanish economy, as well as the reasons why they have embarked on this revolution in the industry to position Spain as the international hub for electric vehicles.

This was followed by the panel “The path towards the sustainable electrification of Spain”, in which Javier Rivera, CFO of PowerCo Spain; Juan José Marcos, CEO of Ingedetec; Raquel Blanco, Global Director of Smart Mobility at Iberdrola and Joaquín Abril-Martorell, CEO of Phi4Tech Group, reflected on the aim of achieving sustainable mobility, highlighting the importance of having the first battery factory, as well as the raw material we have in the country to be able to promote Spain as a benchmark for electric vehicles.

The third panel was dedicated to SMEs and included Jon Asín, manager and co-founder of BeePlanet Factory; Enrique Vacas, CEO & Business Development director of Nutai; Carlos Pablo Rodríguez y Juan, vice-president of Isend and Mike Hastewell, president of Malena Engineering. They all talked about what it means to them to be part of a project of this magnitude and the importance they have in it, as SMEs represent 59.6% of companies developing projects.

Finally, the panel “New opportunities in employment and training” included José García Gámez, General Director of Órbita Ingeniería; Josep Codina Nogues, CEO of FORMINSA and Mikel Ormazabal, Production Manager of Volkswagen Navarra. They all agreed on the new paradigm that Future: Fast Forward represents for the quality and specialisation of employment in Spain.

The legacy of Future: Fast Forward

The Future: Fast Forward project will not only change mobility as we know it today, but will have a positive impact on many factors such as GDP, maintaining and creating jobs with new qualified profiles, boosting SMEs and also impacting sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint. It also aims to lay the foundations for new models of business collaboration, multiple, transversal and providing value to a common goal to go further, leaving a more competitive country in the face of future challenges.

The president of the group, Marc Riera, finally pointed out that “Future: Fast Forward is the result of more than 50 companies capable of making the future of the automotive industry a reality. But we must be more ambitious and work to strengthen this project and those who can follow it; it is the only way to achieve a transformation that is already unstoppable”.

The capillarity of a country project

After the end of the panels, an interactive area was set up in which spokespersons from the 52 partners with 86 projects were able to explain to the attendees what these actions, which will transform the automotive sector in Spain, consist of. This area was divided into different workshops related to the nine areas of action of the PERTE VEC: the compulsory blocks, (i) original equipment manufacturing and assembly, (ii) battery manufacturing and (iii) manufacturing of other components. The cross-cutting blocks, which include (iv) training; (v) digitisation and (vi) circular economy. Finally, the optional blocks complement the development of the PERTE VEC and address (vii and viii) the manufacturing of VEC components and connectivity and (ix) the manufacturing of charging systems.

 

Companies in the Future: Fast Forward cluster

Altech, Asai Industrial, AZTERLAN, Balidea, BeePlanet, Bosch, Brose, CARTO, CELSA Group, CETIM, CIDETEC, CSIC, CERLER Global Electronics, CYP, Delta Vigo, ENSO INNOVATION, Feníe Energía, FORMINSA, GCR Group, Gestamp, Glavista, Gonvarri, Sesé, Simoldes, Iberdrola, Intrustial, ILJIN, Ingedetec, Universidad Zaragoza, isEazy, ISEND, Kapture, Kautenik, Kivnon, Lazpiur, Leartiker, Libelium, Lithium Iberia, Malena Engineering, Mindcaps, Mol-Matric, Motorland Aragón, NTDD, NUTAI, Órbita Ingeniería, Pomceg Electronics, POWER Innotech, PowerCo, SEAT CODE, SEAT MÓ, SEAT S.A., Silence, Grupo SPR, Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze SE, Técnicas Reunidas, TECOI, Valeo, VEGA Chargers, Vicomtech, Volkswagen Navarra, WIP y Zylk.

Fast Forward partners

CaixaBank, Eurecat, FICOSA, ITAINNOVA y Telefónica España.

About Future: Fast Forward

Future: Fast Forward is the largest business grouping in the history of the automotive industry in Spain. Following the final resolution of the Ministry of Industry of the PERTE VEC project, 86 projects are being developed in 9 autonomous communities (Catalonia, Community of Madrid, Navarre, Basque Country, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Andalusia, Galicia and Valencia) by 52 partners, of which 59.6% are SMEs. The companies in the cluster have experience, technology, knowledge, innovation, human teams and business capabilities that add value to build the necessary ecosystem to make Spain the hub of reference for electrified and sustainable mobility at international level.

Learn more about Future: Fast Forward www.futurefastforward.es

Future: Fast Forward Press contact:

AGRUPACIÓN FUTURE: FAST FORWARD

• Patricia Constantí Frowein · patricia.constanti@seat.es · +34 679 808 997

KREAB

• Miguel Alba · malba@kreab.com · +34 656 467 512
• Sonia Gil Vera ·  sgil@kreab.com ·  +34 635 186 188
• Ana Cabirta Martín ·  acabirta@kreab.com · +34 691 430 890