• Digitalisation of gas networks will be an opportunity to better manage consumption
• The focus will be on projects to harness energy from the biomethane from livestock, farming and urban organic waste.

Bilbao, 22 July 2019.- The General Managing Director of the Basque Energy Board (EVE), Iñigo Ansola Kareaga, and the Nortegas CEO, Javier Contreras, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to drive the energy harnessing of renewable gas and promote smart gas networks in the Basque Country.

The signing of the memorandum is part of its commitment to drive better harnessing of renewable energy resources. Its initial purpose is to identify and analyse potential projects to

1.- Foster the harnessing of energy from the biomethane from household organic waste, livestock or farming water, sewage sludge, waste from agri-food industries, etc., in the transport, tertiary or industrial sectors. It is further impetus to the Basque Energy Board’s work in the field of harnessing this renewable energy source over more than two decades.

2.- Boost smart networks in order to appraise the interest in providing gas distribution networks with telecommunication and electronic elements, such as smart meters, which provide information to the distributors and users. That will allow consumption to be managed more securely and efficiently and lead to better quality of the supply and service.

These measures by the Basque Energy Board are contributing to the Basque Energy Transition goals established in the Basque Government’s Energy Strategy 2030, aimed at improving the Basque energy system by means of fostering rational energy use, harnessing renewable energy sources, constant monitoring of the electricity and gas infrastructures and focusing on the Basque Country’s industrial-technological development.

The development of producing renewable gas to be injected in the distribution networks, along with the digitalisation initiatives in its operations and in its customer relations are two of Nortegas’s key strategic lines. In that regard, and with the signing of this protocol, the company is bolstering its commitment to the environment where it operates, by committing to innovation and the decarbonisation of the economy and driving sustainable wealth creation by means of greater investment.