The Abanto Campus of the Basque Technology Parks gets underway with the handover of the EIC building to companies and projects aimed at positioning the Basque Country as a benchmark in the energy transition

Petronor, Tubos Reunidos, Vicinay, AMPO and Tubacex will initially set up the Energy Intelligence Center facilities, which will offer more than 8,000 m2 for innovative projects and advanced equipment to facilitate research in the field of clean energy.

The Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu and the Deputy General of Bizkaia Unai Rementeria took part in the presentation ceremony of the new Abanto Campus, which will be a key element for the development of strategic projects such as the BH2C Basque Hydrogen Corridor.

The Basque Technology Parks investment in the Abanto Campus exceeds 70 million euros and includes new accesses, urban development and the construction of the headquarters building.

The Abanto Campus is the only business space with a hydrogen supply, thanks to the hydro-product already implemented by Nortegas.

The new Abanto Campus of the Basque Technology Parks is now up and running, following the inauguration and handover of the EIC-Energy Intelligence Center Building to the companies Petronor, Tubos Reunidos, Vicinay, AMPO and Tubacex by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, which took place on Monday. The Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu and the Provincial Councillor of Bizkaia Unai Rementeria led the symbolic act of handing over the facilities to representatives of the entities that will give life to a key infrastructure for the energy transition process in the Basque Country.

The meeting was also attended by the Basque Government’s Regional Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia; the Provincial Councillors Elixabete Etxanobe and Ainara Basurko; the President and General Manager of the Basque Technology Parks, Estibaliz Hernáez and Itziar Epalza; and the mayors of Ezkerraldea and Meatzaldea, led by the Mayoress of Abanto, Maite Etxebarria.

As President Estíbaliz Hernáez pointed out at the presentation ceremony, “the inauguration of this Abanto Campus is an important milestone for Bizkaia and the Basque Country, and especially for the Technology Parks, in their commitment to the creation of more sustainable and efficient ecosystems, and in this specific case, for clean energies, one of the RIS3 sectors promoted by the Basque Government”.

Centre of Excellence for Energy

The new campus will require an investment of 70 million euros and occupies a surface area of 505,361 m2, of which 241,622 m2 are buildable. Due to its proximity to the Port of Bilbao, the Petronor refinery and the Cantabrian motorway (A8), it offers great possibilities for development and the generation of synergies.

The EIC – Energy Intelligence Center Headquarters building, which was handed over to the companies today, is the first visible part of the project. Promoted by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Basque Government, this building has been designed as a centre of excellence and a flexible space for developing technological knowledge and R&D&I projects in the energy sector.

With a surface area of 18,500 m2, the building is divided into two areas. On the one hand, there is the Technology Park Headquarters building for companies on a rental basis, with meeting rooms and common elements managed by the Park. It has 4,300 m2 distributed over three floors to house business projects linked to the clean energy sector, mainly those related to the hydrogen value chain. The building also has more than 1,700 m2 of common areas for an Assembly Hall, Hall Showroom/Exhibition area and multi-purpose rooms, so that companies belonging to the hydrogen-energy ecosystem can have spaces for the dissemination of their projects, training or networking.

On the other hand, the EIC is also divided into two areas: the 2,200 m2 Fullscale building, where research and testing machinery is located; and a building for the location of companies in the energy sector. In this way, the EIC is configured as a tool to boost competitiveness and to facilitate the international leadership of companies in the Basque energy sector based on technological development and the generation of knowledge.

The construction of a second building named Maria Telkes, in honour of this Hungarian scientist who worked on solar energy technologies and invented the first thermoelectric generator, is also progressing well. This building will complement the previous one with 12,000 square metres that will house pre-industrial spaces, larger in size, with the capacity to house projects with more special characteristics, including the Hydrogen Living Lab.

In fact, the new Abanto Campus is configured as a strategic space for the development of the Basque Hydrogen Corridor BH2C, a consortium that, with the creation of a Hydrogen ecosystem, advances in the decarbonisation of the energy, industrial, residential and mobility sectors. In this sense, the Abanto facilities will be powered by renewable hydrogen, and buildings will be constructed to demonstrate the use of hydrogen in residential environments. It will also have a ‘Mobility Plot’ with a hydrogen plant, laboratory and refuelling and service station.

First State Hydroduct

It should be noted that the hydrogen project at the Abanto Campus includes the construction of a specific hydrogen pipeline -hydroproduct- from the refinery’s 2.5 MW electrolyser, which will provide green hydrogen for the EIC, Petronor’s headquarters on the Campus, new mobility solutions and even the Hydrogen Living Lab. Built by the company Nortegas, it is the first facility of its kind to be executed in Spain. It links Petronor’s electrolyser at the refinery and the Abanto Campus and will be at the service of the companies that set up there and demand hydrogen.

With the inauguration of the Abanto Campus, the Basque Technology Parks now have six active locations (Zamudio/Derio, Leioa, Abanto, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Donostia and Hernani), to which the Bilbao, Ortuella and Hondarribia campuses will be added in the near future. At present, the Parks are home to more than 618 companies in the Basque Country, employing more than 20,000 people and with an annual turnover of close to 6,000 million euros.

The incorporation of the Abanto Campus is also part of the Parks’ commitment to orderly growth, up to 6.5 million square metres of surface area, thanks to a global investment of 126 million euros up to 2024.