Fundación Repsol and Tecnun create a hydrogen Chair to promote sustainable mobility

Tecnunthe School of Engineering of the University of Navarre, and Repsol Foundation have launched a new Energy Transition Chair focused on hydrogen, its technical options and strategic value, aspects core topic related to the production, distribution and availability of the final Username for sustainable mobility.

Video of the presentation Chair Tecnun -Repsol.

Directed by Tomás Gómez-Acebo, Full Professor of department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials of Tecnun, the Chair will have expert teachers and researchers from the School who will address the role core topic of hydrogen as source energy for the energy transition. During the first year there will be an annual observatory, doctoral theses, final projects Degree and Master's degrees, training courses and webinars.

The presentation of the Chair was made at position by Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero, President of the University of Navarra, and António Calçada, director general of Fundación Repsol, in an event held this morning at Tecnun (San Sebastián).

The creation of the Chair Energy Transition is part of the University of Navarra's Strategy 2025, focused on sustainability. It will be one of the innovative projects to be promoted in the coming years, aimed at reducing the environmental footprint and achieving sustainable development . Sánchez-Tabernero stressed that "the University has to address the major scientific-technological issues and challenges of society." "Many of these issues require research multidisciplinary, in whose funding and support public institutions and companies play an important role," he said.

For his part, António Calçada pointed out that Fundación Repsol considers it essential "to convey to society the importance and impact of the energy transition and promote, with financial aid of science and knowledge, the rigorous discussion around all the technological, regulatory and other factors that can contribute to its acceleration".

Tomás Gómez-Acebo explained that "hydrogen-powered vehicles are an option core topic for sustainable mobility as an alternative to the use of fossil fuels, but in order to implement them, it is necessary to carry out a detailed study of the alternatives that exist for their production, distribution to refueling points and availability to the final Username ".

Economic and environmental benefits of hydrogen

At a roundtable under the title "The role of hydrogen in the energy transition" and moderated by Lourdes Pérez, deputy director of El Diario Vasco, Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Repsol, highlighted the economic and environmental benefits that renewable hydrogen can bring to Spain and the European Union, such as the accelerated and efficient decarbonization of the Economics, the creation of qualified employment, the development of technological and industrial capacities and the capacity to generate wealth from the natural climatic conditions of Spain. "Repsol is immersed in a process of transforming our industrial complexes into multi-energy poles, with the goal to produce 400 MW of renewable hydrogen by 2025," he said.

Arantxa Tapia, Minister of development Economic, Sustainability and Environment of the Basque Government, has praised the launch of this new Chair, as it is strongly aligned with the transformational challenges in which the Basque Country is immersed. "The energy transition and the fight against climate change, we assume them as an opportunity and a commitment of country for the promotion of a new model of development fair and sustainable that we call Basque Green Deal. The commitment to clean and renewable energies, as well as new solutions such as hydrogen, opens an opportunity that fortunately the Basque industry is taking advantage of, and in which the Basque Government will continue to support with intensive policies of research and development+i", he stressed.

In the opinion of Ignacio Martín, independent advisor and professor partner of Tecnun, "the energy transition is a necessity and an opportunity". "Changes as important as the one we are living through happen at a distance in time and must be developed with a broad outlook, taking into account the evolution of technology and society, measuring the environmental, social and economic impact," he said. He also stressed the need to "think in the long term deadline, taking steps in the short term deadline that allow us to reach the final goal , in addition to obtaining immediate benefits".