Rebeca Torró defends in Brussels the development of a Common Industrial Policy at European level

Breakfast-debate 'A Win-Win Energy Plan for Spain & Europe'

In this debate, to which she has been invited to present her experience in the negotiations to achieve the implementation of the Volkswagen plant in Sagunto and in the attraction of other companies to the Valencian territory, the chief economist of the General Directorate of Energy has also participated. at the European Commission, Miguel Gil Tertre, and the Energy analyst at Public Agenda, Pedro Fresco.

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The Minister of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility, Rebecca Torro has defended, in Brussels, the development of “a Common Industrial Policy (CIP) at a European level, which allows increasing the competitiveness of European industry and relocating the manufacturing of materials in the industrial sector to the member states."

This is what he stated in the breakfast debate 'A Win-Win Energy Plan for Spain & Europe', on the future of energy and industrial development in the Valencian Community and Spain, organized by the platform 'Public Agenda' from the newspaper El País, at the headquarters of the Permanent Representation of Spain in the European Union.

In this debate, to which she has been invited to present her experience in the negotiations to achieve the implementation of the Volkswagen en Sagunto and in the attraction of other companies to the Valencian territory, the chief economist of the General Directorate of Energy in the European Commission has also intervened, Miguel Gil Tertre, and the Energy analyst in Public Agenda, Pedro Fresco.

During her speech, Rebeca Torró recalled the supply problems that arose during the pandemic and, “despite the fact that the Valencian Community was the first autonomy to import medical supplies, and production lines were also opened with the promotion of subsidies and administrative facilities from the Generalitat to companies, they, however, were forced to paralyze production in a matter of months because they could not compete with Asia".

Based on this experience, the Minister of Territory of the Generalitat has considered what might happen in the face of decarbonization and the challenge of climate change, and whether something similar to what happened during the pandemic will occur "when we open up this new industry in the member states."

Land and capacities to install new industry

In Torró's opinion, “the European Next Generation funds are being an opportunity for Spain that allows us to open a new industry related to sustainable mobility, the green hydrogen market, energy storage or semiconductors, among others". “In the Valencian Community we are taking advantage of it because, before COVID, we already identified our strengths as a region, we saw that we had land and capabilities to install this new industry,” he stressed.

In this sense, he has indicated that “we have communication infrastructures, with the Port of Valencia as the first of Summer and the fourth in Europe, competitive lands, university, technological and research capacity, quality of life, but we also have three thousand hours of sunshine a year, which are totally influential for decision making, given that they generate clean and cheaper energy ”.

All these factors, continued Rebeca Torró, “have influenced companies like Volkswagen has decided to install its gigafactory in Sagunto, But it was not the only one, HP, Siemens, Hitachi, Ignis, Amazon…they have also chosen the Valencian Community and, in addition, these good conditions allow us to continue negotiating with companies manufacturing vehicles, batteries, high healthcare technology, semiconductors and other automotive components.”

Renewable energy for battery manufacturing

For the counselor, “it is no coincidence that PowerCo continues to innovate and has introduced a new way of manufacturing batteries that reduces the energy it will need by 30%.” It must be taken into account, he pointed out, that "the battery represents 40% of the total manufacturing cost of the car and hence, the company's need to reduce energy consumption and have clean energy through a photovoltaic plant in Sagunto of 150 MW”.

"Therefore, there will be no industry without the generation of clean energy and we see this in the Valencian Community as a unique opportunity, because we have something extraordinary: sun, wind and we are going to take advantage of it in Spain, but we also have to add synergies with the rest of Europe”, he indicated.

To conclude, the councilor left a reflection: “more competitive battery and electric car manufacturers will soon come and we cannot allow it to happen like with the production of medical supplies during the pandemic, a moment in which the difficulties became evident. to face the competition.”