The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, took advantage of his visit to the City of Cerceda to add value to the contribution of the 20 million euros awarded from the Just Transition Funds to the transformation of the regions of Cerceda and As Pontes, affected by the closure of the thermal power plants.
The delegate reported that the Institute for the Just Transition, under the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, has granted 8 million euros for industrial projects in Galicia. “In the case of Cerceda, we talk about more than 3 million for initiatives related to the recovery of waste, an area in which this concello is already a reference, and the production of biodiesel, among others,” he said.
Pedro Blanco pointed out that this aid, which is in addition to the 12 million for the improvement of the social and digital infrastructures of the concellos affected by the closure of the thermal power plants, is a further sign of the Government’s commitment to employment in these regions “20 million in total that are a bet for the transformation of the productive model for another more sustainable and respectful of the environment and with the fixation of population in the rural”.
The delegate, accompanied by the mayor of Cerceda, José Manuel Rodríguez, and the agent of the territory in Just Transition agreements, Nuria Álvarez, visited the Aquapark of Cerceda, one of the entities that benefit from these funds. Together with the councillor, he also reviewed the Government’s investments in the city hall, which exceed 25 million euros. In this sense, he highlighted the ADIF’s seven million euros for improvements in the stations of Meirama (Cerceda), Uxes (Arteixo) and Ordes; the 1.8 million for the construction of the Greenway to Compostela, or the 15 million for Naturgy, Reganosa and Repsol to raise a green hydrogen plant to the lands of the old thermal power plant.
In this regard, it welcomed the announcement, today, of the beginning of the public information phase of the regulatory bases of the contest of the Meirama 220 kV Fair Transition Node, linked to the closure of the power plant. The competition will offer 408 MW of access capacity to renewable and storage projects in the five municipalities included in the Just Transition Agreement (Carral, Cerceda, A Laracha, Ordes and Tordoia). He also recalled that in April the construction of the Maciñeira 400 kV substation, which will compete as a fair transition node in the Pontes area, was included in the Punctual Modifications of the Planning 2021-2026.
“They are funds and actions called to transform these regions and improve the quality of life of Cerceda’s neighbors,” said the delegate, who asked Xunta “the same agility to call aid with the 111 million euros it manages, of which at the moment it has not awarded a single euro.”