Search engine :
Return to the menu
23 Jun 2022
On June 23, the Basque Energy Cluster Association (ACE) held its 2022 Ordinary General Assembly at the BEC in Barakaldo, to approve the Association's audited accounts for 2021 and present its 2022 Management Plan. The Basque Energy Cluster currently has 195 associates.
After approving the 2021 accounts and the Management Plan for 2022, the Association’s new Board of Directors was elected and will continue to be chaired by the President of IDOM, Luis Rodríguez Llopis. Representatives of the following companies and entities will make up the new Board: Ariadna, Iberdrola, Basque Energy Agency (EVE), Alerion, Arteche, Ditrel, Hine, Ingeteam, Ormazábal, Petronor, Sener, Siemens-Gamesa, Tecnalia, Veltium and Vicinay. The Chairman expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in him by the new Board and gave special thanks to the members of the outgoing Board for their dedication and contributions over the past 4 years.
After the Board was elected, the Basque Government’s Deputy Minister for Industry, Mikel Amundarain, opened the event. He was followed by the Managing Director of the Basque Energy Cluster, José Ignacio Hormaeche, who presented data about the Basque energy sector, described its current competitive position and outlined the main challenges and opportunities based on the energy transition at a global level.
Despite the uncertain backdrop, supply problems and cost increases, companies in the Basque energy sector recovered in 2021 to their pre-pandemic overall levels of turnover (around €59.9 billion) and orders. They employed almost 26,000 people in the Basque Country (14.7% of industrial employment in the Basque Country) and investment in R&D in the sector reached €266 million, which represents 18% of the total R&D expenditure in the Basque Country. As a result, the sector is in an excellent competitive position from which to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the energy transition, particularly in the areas of energy efficiency, the electrification of consumption, wind and photovoltaic solar power generation and storage. A major effort is also being made to develop medium- to long-term technologies: offshore wind (floating), green hydrogen production, decarbonisation of energy consumption in industry, wave energy, etc. In this context, Mr. Hormaeche outlined the activities of the Basque Energy Cluster to contribute to this collective effort, energising collaborative initiatives in priority value chains and enhancing the visibility and positioning of the energy sector, both locally and internationally.
To conclude, guest speaker Gonzalo Escribano, Director of the Energy and Climate Programme at the Elcano Royal Institute and Professor of Economic Policy at the Department of Applied Economics at the Spanish National University of Distance Education (UNED), gave a talk on the new geographies of energy in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Keyword
Innovation
C/ San Vicente 8, Edificio Albia II.4ª plta Dpto. B. Dcha. 48001 Bilbao
Tel. 94 424 02 11
mail@clusterenergia.com