TEK Azitain, the first energy community of industrial companies in Guipúzcoa.

The Basque industrial sector is making a commitment to renewable solar energy with the setting up of the first energy community of industrial companies in Gipuzkoa. This initiative, called TEK Azitain (Tokiko Energia Komunitatea), will be located in the Azitain industrial estate in Eibar and will have 347 photovoltaic panels that will supply energy to eight companies in the estate: Acha Herramientas, Codesyntax, Hanna Instruments, Incubadora Eibargunea, Jose Maria Irazabal, Manufacturas Resort, Neurtek and Kirolbet. These eight companies participating in the project have formed an energy community with its own legal entity.

TEK Azitain, promoted by the regional development agency Debegesa and the companies, has the support of the Basque Energy Agency (EVE), the Department of the Environment of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and Eibar Town Council. TEK Azitain has been set up on the basis of the model designed by Edinor, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petronor, which specialises in the development of Energy Communities. For the drafting of the feasibility study, it has received financial backing from the Department of the Environment of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, as well as aid from the Self-consumption Programme of the Next Generation Funds managed by the EVE.

With a total surface area of 1,086m2, the installation will generate 156kW, which will translate into significant savings on its annual electricity bill. The energy produced by the solar panels, which is equivalent to approximately 25% of the total consumption of the partner companies, will be deducted from their bills and they will pay neither tolls nor charges for it.

Exemplary project

In this way, the commitment to promote the energy transition in the territory is reinforced, as, in addition to the economic advantages, it will prevent the emission of 972 tonnes of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to planting 3,891 trees to absorb these harmful emissions for 25 years (the useful life of the solar panels).

These eight companies represent an annual electricity consumption of more than 430,000 KWh/year thanks to this initiative. All of them will obtain an energy autonomy of approximately 25%, which allows them, in addition to accessing km0 renewable energy generated on the industrial estate itself, to secure part of their energy supply at unbeatable market prices, given that, as it is shared self-consumption, they will not pay tolls or electricity charges for this energy.

The project is intended to be extended with the aim of progressively increasing the energy autonomy of companies, significantly improving the decarbonisation of the economic activity carried out there and the energy competitiveness of the companies located there. In this sense, the incorporation of a storage system in the industrial estate itself and an increase in photovoltaic installations is already under study so that new companies interested in joining the TEK can be incorporated, as this community could host new companies and/or installations within a radius of 2 kilometres.

The project was presented today and the event was attended by: Iñigo Ansola from EVE; the Provincial Councillor for the Environment and Hydraulic Works of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, José Ignacio Asensio; the Mayor of Eibar, Jon Iraola; Juan Ángel Balbás, General Manager of Debegesa; the eight companies in the TEK; the Managing Director of Edinor, Juan Diego and Mari Carmen Lazkano, Manager of Deba Bailarako Industrialdea.

Miguel Ángel Arenas (President of TEK Azitain) stressed that "thanks to this initiative, companies can actively take part in the generation and consumption of energy in a cleaner and more sustainable way. It is a project we have been working on for a year and it has finally materialised, as during the month of February the installation and start-up will take place".

Iñigo Ansola, Director General of EVE, has highlighted the value of "the collaborative culture that is deeply rooted in industry and in Basque society itself to promote projects, in this case to implement renewable energy installations that are essential to meet the objectives and commitments of the energy transition towards a more sustainable model, but which also have an important competitiveness component, more renewables means less gas". Jose Ignacio Asensio, Deputy for the Environment of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, highlighted the fact that, as in the case of the citizen energy communities, Gipuzkoa is going to position itself as a benchmark in the field of promoting a new, cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable energy alternative for the industrial sector: "Eibar is going to be a pioneer in promoting an efficient, sustainable, economic and safe energy model for its industry, through the Azitain industrial energy community. This energy model based on collective self-consumption for companies represents an important competitive advantage for industry and a strong boost for the decarbonisation objectives of the region and the territory".

For his part, the Mayor of Eibar, Jon Iraola, stated that "it is a real source of pride to be the first city in Gipuzkoa to set up an energy community of industrial companies, and for which we have sought to facilitate all the necessary channels. It is an extremely important step forward in environmental matters, and one of the milestones to which we aspired when we at Eibar Town Council encouraged the coordination and joint work of the companies located on each of the town's industrial estates. Undoubtedly, this breeding ground, which generated the mutual knowledge of the companies, has facilitated the creation of this community. The City Council's commitment to more sustainable and efficient energy consumption is firm. For this reason, in addition to directly developing initiatives and policies that allow us to achieve these objectives, within the framework of the Eibar Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan approved in 2022, we want to generate a favourable ecosystem in the city to achieve these goals".

The Managing Director of Edinor, Juan Diego, stated that "the development of business Energy Communities is not only a way of decarbonising economic and industrial activity in the territory, but also an ideal instrument for improving the energy competitiveness of companies".