Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Enagás, pointed out that involving the public from the outset is essential to make progress in the energy transition. “In April we will launch the Public Participation Plan for the Hydrogen Backbone, the largest process of its kind in Spain to date,” he said during his speech at the round table “The physical and institutional energy structuring of the European Union: A pending challenge for the European legislature”, at the 22nd IESE Energy Meeting held on 19 February in Madrid.
During his speech, the CEO of Enagás explained that the aim of the Public Participation Plan is to involve civil society and the territories in the development of this infrastructure, involving the 13 Autonomous Communities and more than 500 municipalities through which the Spanish hydrogen network will pass.
The Enagás CEO also stressed that green hydrogen and the future network will be key to turning decarbonisation into a competitive advantage for European industry. “Hydrogen infrastructures will play a key role in decarbonisation to boost industrial competitiveness in Europe,” he said.
During his speech, Arturo Gonzalo pointed out that “Europe has shown its capacity to react” to the energy crisis, referring to REPowerEU, which was already committed to renewable hydrogen to increase Europe’s energy sovereignty. In this sense, he stressed that “Europe’s green roadmap is essential” in a context in which “climate change is an urgent problem”. 2024 was the first year in which the global temperature was exceeded by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a limit that, as he emphasised, the Paris Agreement had set for 2050.
Other speakers at the round table included REN CEO Rodrigo Costa, Engie Spain CEO Loreto Ordoñez, Redeia CEO Roberto García Merino and the European Commissions Director General for the Environment Daniel Calleja. The session was moderated by Oliverio Álvarez, partner in charge of Energy & Resources at Deloitte.
