The Institute for the Just Transition (ITJ), an autonomous body of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), in collaboration with the Xunta de Galicia and the Association of Municipalities in Just Transition - Association of Mining Comarcas (ACOM of the FEMP) have held today in Casa Dopeso de As Pontes an information day on the evolution of the work of the Just Transition Agreement that is being developed for this area. The meeting was attended by representatives of the municipalities included in this Convention, business and trade union organizations as well as companies, associations and other local actors.
The opening ceremony was attended by Laura Martín, director of the ITJ; María Rivas, deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña; Pablo Fernández, general director of Energy Planning and Natural Resources of the Xunta de Galicia; Carolina Morilla, general secretary of ACOM and Valentín González, mayor of As Pontes.
In her speech, Laura Martín stressed that “the work of the Just Transition Agreements is yielding excellent results, particularly in this area. The industrial projects represent a significant gain in industrial employment compared to the employment levels of the plant. But we also support municipal projects to improve the services of the municipalities and we have opened lines to aid so that the SMEs of the territory can implement new initiatives.”
For her part, María Rivas has pointed out the Government’s commitment to “economically and socially revitalize” the municipalities affected by the closure of Meirama and As Pontes: “a government that has not shirked the responsibility of seeking a future for these municipalities because the objective of this transition is to generate new activity and new employment.”
The Fair Transition Agreement of As Pontes covers the 11 municipalities of the province of A Coruña and another 3 of the province of Lugo that have suffered impacts on income and employment as a result of the closure of the As Pontes Thermal Power Plant. Se tratada de Cabanas, A Capela, Cerdido, Ferrol, Mañón, Moeche, Monfero, Muras, Ortigueira, As Pontes, San Sadurniño, As Somozas, As Vilalba y Xermade.
It is one of the 15 Conventions that are being carried out in Spain to address the effects of the closure of coal mines, coal-fired power stations and nuclear power plants.
MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
During the course of the day, the ITJ reported on the results of the provisional resolution of the aid to municipal projects for digital, environmental and social infrastructures destined to the 197 municipalities of Just Transition and which are financed with 91 million through the Recovery Plan.
This call highlights the success of participation, since the fourteen municipalities included in the As Pontes Convention have presented a total of 20 projects. After the evaluation process, the ITJ has approved the provisional concession of more than 7 million to finance 12 infrastructure projects to be developed in Cabanas, Cerdido, Ferrol, Mañón, Moeche, Monfero, Ortigueira, San Sadurniño, As Somozas, Vilalba and Xermade. At the end of the period of allegation, it is expected that the final resolution will be published in the coming weeks.
The grants will allow the rehabilitation and transformation of public property, spaces and lands for new uses that strengthen their digital, environmental and social component or help to create new spaces.
New call with 25 million
The high rate of participation and the quality of the projects presented have prompted the ITJ to work on a new call for grants with identical objectives with 25 million euros that will be launched soon. Thus, the municipalities will have a new opportunity to materialize their proposals.
NEW ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS
This Conference is the area where the projects supported by the ITJ in the area are presented and the projects promoted by the 'Agreement for a fair energy transition for closing thermal power plants: employment, industry and territories' signed in March 2021 between the Government, the trade unions and the companies holding the thermal power plants are monitored. Its focus of priority action is the maintenance of employment in the territories and its economic and industrial dynamization through the search for new investments.
First, the company Sentury Tyre will build this year in As Pontes, on the grounds of the old mine, a smart tyre factory that will require an investment of 477 million. It will have a production capacity of 12 million tyres per year, will create 750 jobs and will multiply the traffic volume of the Port of Ferrol.
For its part, Endesa has reported the location, on the grounds of the thermal power plant, of a factory of the company ENCE for the production of biofuels, bio-products and special cellulose, which would involve an investment of about 355 million. This project will generate 150 direct jobs that could reach 1,000 jobs taking into account direct and induced employment.
To these industrial initiatives is added the project of the company Endesa to replace the 1,400 MW of electricity production from coal, by 1,300 MW of renewable production destined, to a large extent, to supply the companies located in the environment such as Sentuty Tyre and Alcoa. In addition, it will create a logistics center for the maintenance of wind farms that will service its facilities in Spain and will build a 100 MW green hydrogen plant. It will also undertake the dismantling of the plant that will generate employment in the short and medium term, implement an important training plan for the people of the environment and give logistical impetus to the terminal of the Port of Ferrol.
The Ministry’s Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) has awarded 15 million in grants to a green hydrogen project jointly promoted by the companies Naturgy, Reganosa and Repsol, thanks to the plan to prioritise energy innovation projects located in areas of fair transition applicable to the aid lines managed by MITECO and its associated agencies.
This prioritization formula will continue to be deployed from MITECO and IDAE for green hydrogen projects, storage, recycling of wind turbines, energy communities, biogas, heat and cold networks, marine renewables, etc.
GRANTS FOR BUSINESSES IN JUST TRANSITION MUNICIPALITIES
The conference presented the new aid to companies with the aim of promoting the generation of new activity, economic diversification, the generation of employment, as well as contributing to maintain the jobs of local companies.
Yesterday the BOE published a call for small investment projects. It is endowed with 10 million and oriented to small investment projects that require at least 30,000 euros and that commit to maintaining employment or creating a new job in the case of new activities. It complements the call published on March 7, the BOE provided with 40 million destined for job-creating business projects that require an investment of 100 thousand euros and generate at least 3 jobs.
For the allocation of aid, the environmental and social benefits of the projects, their employability, their tractive effect on the territory, their innovation and their location in municipalities affected by depopulation, the demographic challenge and the closure of coal mines and power plants will be assessed. Small and medium-sized enterprises will also have an additional score.
JUST TRANSITION BACKGROUND
In the course of the Conference, the representative of the Xunta de Galicia has presented his next lines of aid financed through the Fair Transition Fund (FTJ) of the European Union.
The FTJ Plan for Galicia is structured in six main areas of intervention: decarbonization and industrial renewal of tractor industries; promotion of the value chain of renewable energies, self-consumption, energy storage and renewable hydrogen; promotion of SMEs and tractor business projects for the economic diversification of the territories; promotion of digital centers of systems development, monitoring, control of operations; and finally the promotion of training and qualification initiatives for the labor insertion of affected unemployed and training in digital and green transition.
RESULTS OF THE PARTICIPATORY PROCESS
The process of public participation initiated in July 2020 that aimed to capture and identify initiatives to generate a new productive fabric in the area, allowed to gather 75 ideas and proposals from 56 actors among which are public administrations, business and trade union organizations, companies, associations, local development groups, etc.
Of this percentage, around 64% would be able to access ITJ help lines already in place such as those intended for companies. In addition, they can benefit from other centrally managed economic support channels from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, as happens with the Strategic Project for the Economic Recovery and Transformation of Renewable Energies, Renewable Hydrogen and Storage (PERTE ERHA) -foreseen in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan- which especially scores the contribution to areas of fair transition or demographic challenge.