Local Benefits
We are at a turning point with respect to energy and we want to be a driving force for this change.
Over the coming years, nuclear plants are planned to be closed, which will generate benefits from an environmental perspective, but at the cost of the employment of many people in the Terres de l’Ebre region. Gironés-Raïmats is committed to the use of green energy, while facilitating the energy paradigm shift and generating an economic stimulus in the region.
The project will generate over 5,000 jobs directly during the construction phase, which is expected to last seven years. Moreover, it facilitates the redeployment of qualified professionals from the nuclear sector and the creation of small and medium businesses providing specialized maintenance services for the building, civil engineering works and electrical and mechanical installations.
The existence of this kind of energy asset will pave the way for new investment opportunities in industrial developments that require abundant and affordable electrical energy from renewable sources.
We are working along two innovative strategic lines:
- The construction of a technology park near the plant, specializing in the digital sector, to coincide with the arrival in 2023 of the second largest underwater fibre optic cable in the world in terms of length. This will make Catalonia a hub attracting big investments from the leading global Internet operators and providers.
- Collaboration with the Southern Catalonia Green Hydrogen Platform to supply a large proportion of the green energy required by the petrochemical complex in Tarragona to generate around 80 t/h of green hydrogen by 2030.
Global Benefits
The Gironés-Raïmats project contributes significantly to the fight against climate change and to the sustainability of our planet. The initiative not only generates benefits for the Terres de l’Ebre region, Catalonia and Spain, but also for Europe.
As a Project of Common Interest, the EU estimates that, by 2030, Gironés-Raïmats will generate the following benefits:
- Giving society certainty with respect to the energy supply in the event of potential contingencies in the mains network, reducing the operating costs of the electrical system, estimated at a value of 110 million euros each year.
- Reducing CO2 emissions as it enables the replacement of thermal generation plants that use polluting fuels with renewable energies, valued at 115 million euros per year.
- Decreasing losses on the mains networks as it is not necessary to bring energy from far away, valued at 28 million euros per year.
In short, it will lower the taxpayers’ burden by around 250 million euros per year.
