Catalonia will be one of the areas most affected by Repsol's decision to put its investments in new industrial projects on hold. The announcement of the decision last Thursday by its CEO, Josu Jon Imaz, in a conference with analysts was specified yesterday by the president of Petronor and advisor to Repsol, Emiliano López Atxurra, specifying that the first project that will remain on “stand by” It will be the 100 MW electrolyzer that was going to be developed in Euskadi.
During an intervention on Radio Euskadi, López Atxurra clarified that Imaz “at no time said that Repsol was going to withdraw its investments in Spain, “What he did assure is that the company will consider the new industrial projects that will remain on standby if not “There is a stable and predictable regulatory framework.”
Among those new industrial projects that have not yet received a firm investment decision is the aforementioned 100 MW electrolyzer to be built on Basque soil, for whose execution Repsol would have to approve a budget of 200 million euros, which will not be approved until Spain does not have a “predictable and adequate” regulatory framework.
Other projects remain in the same situation, such as an electrolyzer of the same capacity (100 MW) and similar cost (about 200 million euros) projected in Cartagena. But the largest volume of investments in danger is concentrated in Catalonia, specifically in the province of Tarragona. In it, Repsol has announced the development of the largest electrolyzer in Spain, of 150 MW and with the capacity to produce up to 1 gigawatt of green hydrogen, whose investment, according to sources familiar with the project, would be “between 250 and 300 million euros.” ”.
Added to these is the development of the so-called Ecoplant projected in El Morell, (Tarragona). Which was announced as the first plant in Spain with the capacity to transform non-recyclable municipal solid waste into methanol that would be used to manufacture new materials and advanced biofuels. This is a project in which Enerkem (technology leader) and Agbar (worldwide specialist in water and waste management) also participate and with an estimated budget of 750 million euros.
With these data, the threat of paralyzing industrial investments launched by Imaz translates into an investment risk for the entire country of almost 1,500 million euros, of which between 1,000 and 1,050 million are concentrated in Tarragona.
Last Thursday, Imaz justified this investment prudence due to discomfort with the Government's decision to establish indefinitely the extraordinary tax for energy companies that taxes income. The CEO of Repsol described it as "illegal, unconstitutional and discriminatory" and assured that "they will fight to the end in the courts."
Yesterday, López Atxurra insisted that the company is demanding “non-discrimination” and a tax focusing only on oil.
For his part, the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, was very critical of the news. “It is quite obscene” that there are large companies that, by maintaining or not maintaining certain fiscal figures, “allow themselves to threaten, even veiledly,” “a State and a democratic Government.”
