An international consortium of 40 organisations from Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Greece, led by ETRA, structure financed by Smartenergy, implementing the technology of Sunfire, with the technical expertise of Enel Green Power for the green hydrogen production and also research partners like ITE (Instituto Tecnológico de la Energía), is launching ORANGE.BAT, an ambitious initiative to incorporate green hydrogen into the ceramics industry in Europe. ORANGE.BAT can count on the strategic institutional support from the Generalitat Valenciana, the Government of the Comunitat Valenciana, which is a member of the consortium.
The project ORANGE.BAT sets the path for the full decarbonization of an energy and CO2 intensive industry sector by replacing natural gas with green hydrogen as combustion fuel, and is fully driven by 26 industrial end-users from the Regional Ceramic Cluster of the Comunitat Valenciana, together with the two associations representing the whole sector (ASCER and ANFFECC). The project consortium submitted a funding application under the EU “Green Deal Call” to help overcome the financial challenges faced by pioneering industrial-scale projects in the current ramp-up phase of the green hydrogen economy. With sufficient funding in place, the operational start of the electrolyzer is planned by early 2024.
The partnership includes major industrial players, investment firms, research centres, institutional bodies and the cluster of off takers from the ceramics industry for the hydrogen to be produced. This enables ORANGE.BAT to cover the full value chain, from generation and storage of green hydrogen to not only the consumption of it, but also its distribution to the end-consumers. The planned large-scale pilot plant will be deployed nearby Castellón (Spain), in one of the most important ceramic industrial clusters in Europe, concentrating 95% of the ceramic industry of Spain and 33% of the CO2 emissions of the Valencian region.
“Working on this project from the initial idea and structuring ORANGE.BAT to make it an attractive investment case is a great experience, the Green Hydrogen Ecosystem really becomes reality with this project” says Christian Pho Duc, Managing Director H2 Projects at Smartenergy. “By joining forces with a great line-up of strong and experienced partners, we will enable the decarbonization of hard to abate industries where no solution existed before.”
“For Enel Green Power, green hydrogen is the only truly sustainable solution that can support the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors, where electrification of end uses is not an easy solution. For that reason, we are glad to participate in the ORANGE.BAT consortium. Just through the openness and the collaboration with other partners, we will develop new services that use energy to tackle global challenges”, says Paola Brunetto, Head of Hydrogen Business Unit of Enel Green Power.
In accordance with the principles of the circular economy, ORANGE.BAT will valorise the electrolyser by-products consumed or generated in the industrial process. Not only the consumption of natural gas is subsequently replaced by Green Hydrogen avoiding CO2 emissions, but also the generated Oxygen is used to improve the KILN process and the generated heat is used for industrial and residential heating to achieve maximum energy efficiency along the full value chain.
“ETRA believes green hydrogen is set to be a very powerful tool for Europe to attain its ambitious decarbonization targets, particularly when it comes to energy-intensive industrial sectors, such as the ceramics sector. We are very glad to have gathered around ORANGE.BAT’s ambitious goals a world class partnership which covers the full value chain of green hydrogen. No doubt this is an challenging endeavour, to which we’ll be bringing our more than 30 years expertise in large scale innovation projects management -ETRA is ranked among EU’s top 1% most innovative companies-, together with all our know how and solutions on smart technologies applied to energy projects,” says Antonio Marqués Moreno, Director of Technology and Innovation at ETRA and coordinator of ORANGE.BAT.
In the scope of the project, German cleantech company Sunfire supplies a 100 MW pressurized alkaline electrolyser. Sunfire’s alkaline electrolysis technology is the most reliable technology currently available in the market. It achieves a remarkable runtime of over 90,000 operating hours, functions at up to 30 bar working pressure without the need for downstream compression and has a proven lifespan of more than 20 years.
România va putea încasa fonduri europene prin PNRR în primii doi ani, dacă sunt îndeplinite anumite reforme
România va putea încasa fonduri de la Comisia Europeană, în primii doi ani, în baza îndeplinirii unor paşi sau a unor reforme care nu sunt bazate pe proiecte, a anunţat secretarul de stat în Ministerul Investiţiilor şi Proiectelor Europene, Marius Vasiliu, în cadrul consultărilor privind actualizarea Planului Naţional de Redresare şi Rezilienţă (PNRR).
Aceste sume vor putea fi considerate avans pentru reformele asumate, dacă acestea sunt precedate de crearea unui cadru instituţional şi legislativ prin politici, strategii sau acte normative.
Potrivit sursei citate, PNRR şi reformele finanţate pot fi implementate până la 31 august 2026.
Consultările pentru actualizarea PNRR au continuat joi la sediul Ministerului Investiţiilor şi Proiectelor Europene prin dezbaterea propunerilor pentru următoarele domenii: mediu de afaceri, ecosisteme antreprenoriale, respectiv cercetare, inovare, digitalizare.
În cadrul dezbaterilor, Marius Vasiliu, secretar de stat MIPE, a insistat asupra importanţei pe care o are PNRR din perspectiva reformelor necesare României. “Faţă de ceea ce am precizat ieri privind criticile Comisie Europene asupra bucăţilor transmise, încercăm să corelăm lista de investiţii cu prevederile Regulamentului şi cu solicitările Comisiei Europene”, a declarat secretarul de stat MIPE.
În cadrul dezbaterii privind Mediu de afaceri, ecosisteme antreprenoriale, reprezentanţii Ministerului Economiei au propus ca prin intermediul PNRR să fie finanţate instrumente financiare, dar şi simplificarea vieţii antreprenorilor prin digitalizare.
PNRR, fonduri europene, Marius Vasiliu, MIPE,
Romania will be able to get EU funds through PNRR in the first two years, if certain reforms are fulfilled
Romania will be able to collect funds from the European Commission in the first two years, based on the implementation of some steps or reforms that are not based on projects, announced the Secretary of State in the Ministry of European Investments and Projects, Marius Vasiliu, during the consultations on updating the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
These amounts can be considered as an advance for the assumed reforms, if they are preceded by the creation of an institutional and legislative framework through policies, strategies or normative acts.
According to the quoted source, PNRR and the financed reforms can be implemented until August 31, 2026.
The consultations for updating PNRR continued on Thursday at the headquarters of the Ministry of European Investments and Projects by debating the proposals for the following fields: business environment, entrepreneurial ecosystems, respectively research, innovation, digitalization.
During the debates, Marius Vasiliu, MIPE Secretary of State, insisted on the importance of PNRR from the perspective of the necessary reforms for Romania.
“Compared to what I said yesterday regarding the European Commission’s criticisms of the transmitted pieces, we are trying to correlate the list of investments with the provisions of the Regulation and with the requests of the European Commission,” said the MIPE Secretary of State.
During the debate on Business Environment, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, the representatives of the Ministry of Economy proposed that financial instruments be financed through PNRR, but also the simplification of the life of entrepreneurs through digitalization.