On Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 September representatives of different Public Administrations, the business sector and the field of research and academia have met in Badajoz in an interregional event organized by the Extremadura Energy Agency (AGENEX), to share experiences and promote the integration of renewable energy sources (RES) in the industrial processes of the continent. In total, 21 experts from the Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, Malta and Spain participated. Experts from other countries, such as Austria and Poland, connected virtually to the meetings to follow the project progress.
Experts from the RESINDUSTRY team and regional stakeholders have met in Extremadura to develop a complete work program based on the exchange of experiences to improve the integration of renewables in the industrial sector of the participating regions and countries.
Badajoz has hosted the first face-to-face meeting of the RESINDUSTRY Consortium after the outbreak of the COVID-19, to continue advancing in the creation of regional Action Plans that will be presented in June 2022.
On the first day of meetings, we celebrate a workshop focused on participants analyzing the policies of each region to see the successful practices developed and their possible replication in other European territories. After this, a Master Class took place for the development of future Action Plans.
The next day, the team started with an internal meeting to assess the operation of the project. After that, participants went to the facilities of two Extremadura industries that have successfully integrated renewables into their production processes.
On the one hand, the multinational BA Glass located in Villafranca de Los Barros, dedicated to the production of glass and which has successfully implemented an 8 MW photovoltaic self-consumption installation with which it generates with renewable energy 10% of the electrical energy that consume. Thanks to the good results obtained, the company is studying how to optimize its processes and the energy input they need to continue reducing their carbon footprint.
After this visit, the participants went to the CAVE San José Wineries, also located in Villafranca de Los Barros, where a biomass installation and a 100 kW photovoltaic self-consumption installation have been implemented, with which they produce 10% of current energy consumption. The installation of biomass allows to accelerate the thermovinification process in the production of red wine, a common practice in countries such as France and Germany for the elimination of bacteria and that this industry uses it to accelerate the grape maceration process and thus increase the productive capacity of the winery.
The RESINDUSTRY project brings together seven partners from different countries of the European Union (Czech Republic, Finland, Spain, Estonia, Poland, Austria and Malta) to increase the energy independence of European industry thanks to the integration of renewables in the secondary sector. RESINDUSTRY is a project approved in the 4th call of the Interreg Europe Program, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
