Enagás -through its subsidiary e4efficiency-, Repsol and the Port Authority of Cartagena (APC), have signed a protocol for the study of a new circular economy project that takes advantage of the residual industrial cold of the Enagás regasification plant in Cartagena.
The project aims to recover the energy from the cold available in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification process at the Enagás plant in Cartagena, and to use this energy in different industrial facilities at the Repsol refinery in the Escombreras Valley, approximately three kilometres away. This clean energy can also be used in other facilities that are connected to the ‘frioducto’ (industrial cold line).
By saving electrical energy, users of the environmentally friendly cooling system and the port environment will gain energy efficiency. Accordingly, this project would allow them to decarbonize their processes and reduce their carbon footprint.
The initiative, submitted to the European Union’s Next Generation call for expression of interest for the promotion of circular economy, follows two previous agreements.
In December 2020, Enagás and the APC signed an action protocol to carry out technical and economic feasibility studies of ecological cooling projects in the port area and the Escombreras Valley.
In April 2021, the Enagás Emprende subsidiary, e4efficiency, signed a MoU with Repsol to collaborate on energy efficiency projects, within the Cartagena refinery, based on the use of Enagás’ green cooling energy.
In 2022, engineering studies will be carried out to develop the infrastructure of the ecological cold chain and grants will be applied for to aid in the development of this project of relevant contribution to the energy transition in the region.
According to Marcelino Oreja, CEO of Enagás, “this project is part of Enagás’ energy efficiency and sustainability strategy which, through the development of various initiatives and investments, has reduced the company’s carbon footprint by 50% in the last two years and by around 99% in the Port of Cartagena area”.
For his part, Antonio Mestre, Director of the Repsol Refinery in Cartagena, said that “this project makes explicit Repsol’s commitment to the circular and collaborative economy between different companies and public institutions, and is a further step in Repsol’s commitment to be a company with zero net emissions by 2050”.
In Yolanda Muñoz's opinion, chairwoman of the Port Authority of Cartagena, “this project will place us at the forefront in the Mediterranean in the use of the cold as a logistics hub that will increase the sustainability and competitiveness of the regional economy, to promote the business acquisition of companies in the Region that will optimise storage, logistics, production and the environmental impact of their actions”. Muñoz stressed that “our positioning and the quality of our services ensure that companies installed in the Escombreras Valley such as Enagás and Repsol remain committed to our port in a partnership to move towards a circular economy model and continue to reduce the carbon footprint, which in recent years has been reduced by 85%”.
