The Xunta de Galicia has presented the Public Procurement of Innovation program for the industry and energy sector.

The initiative, which will allocate a minimum budget of 5 M€ per project, is focused on boosting the current experimental platform of Punta Langosteira, with the development of new technologies in the field of marine renewable energies and also the design of innovative solutions around the value chain of green hydrogen.

Galicia has one of the main marine resources in Europe and has the potential to become a benchmark region in this field, both from the point of view of energy generation and the development of environmentally friendly floating offshore wind technologies. In this context, Punta Langosteira aspires to be the technological reference for the testing of prototypes of floating platforms and the study of renewable energy resources, at the service of a new sector in Galicia, where the shipbuilding industry, the metal industry, but also the ICT sector and many others will be indispensable.

On the other hand, through the Public Procurement of Innovation, the so-called Galician Center for Innovative Solutions around the green hydrogen value chain will be launched, with the aim of promoting research and development of solutions in this field to meet the current limitations. It is considered necessary to lay the foundations of a demonstrator space in technologies related to Green H2, with special emphasis on decarbonization and energy storage, taking into account the existing resources in the Community, its industrial potential and the available knowledge. Specifically, 3 challenges will be transferred to the market, focused on validating new technologies related to hydrogen production; its storage, transport and distribution; and use cases and applications. The objective is that the best technology is developed in Galicia, and then industrialized and marketed from the Community for the whole of Spain and Europe.

Galicia is a reference in Spain and a pioneer in the use of Public Procurement of Innovation, generating opportunities for the Galician innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem. In fact, in the last decade, 250 M€ have been executed in the Community in this field, being the Aerospace Pole of Galicia one of the most outstanding projects launched by the Xunta through this contracting instrument.