Today, Friday, the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pere Aragonès, has made an institutional visit to the region of Osona to visit different projects and get to know the economic and social boost initiatives in the area, as is the case of the future construction of the renewable energy and storage integration platform, PRIMA Platform, of the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC). The visit of the head of the executive reflects the Government’s support for these the platform project, led by IREC, that will serve to promote research, innovation and training on the energy transition, with the support of the Government of Catalonia through of the Institut Català d’Energia (ICAEN).
The Minister of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Government of Catalonia, Teresa Jordà, signed, in February 2022, the collaboration agreement with Gurb City Council, Vic City Council, Osona County Council and University of Vic – University Central de Catalunya in order to install the PRIMA Platform in Gurb (Osona), developed by IREC. The agreement grants the assignment of a plot by the City Council of Gurb for the location of the equipment, and establishes the terms for its execution. In addition, it also incorporates collaboration agreements in the scientific and technological fields – joint participation in R+D+I projects, consultancy and advice or the knowledge transfer, among others–, in training in the academic and professional fields –such as teaching opportunities between UVIC-UCC and IREC–, and in the dissemination to society.
The PRIMA Platform is focused on the development of demonstrators and pilot plants, which will be highly interconnected to guarantee the technological transversality of the platform, which, among other topics, deal with hydrogen and decarbonization systems; digitization of distribution networks and integration of renewables; energy storage, flexibility and demand aggregation; sustainable buildings and energy efficiency; sustainable mobility; bioenergy and energy recovery of waste and CO₂.
The PRIMA Platform will have a dual orientation, on the one hand, testing and validation of technological development and innovation, and on the other hand, a clear market orientation. As well as, the demonstration of new energy systems, vectors and models in real pilot plant environments. In this sense, it will have two clear lines of action:
• Take advantage of IREC’s R+D+I ecosystem as an international reference center for the development in Catalonia of key technologies for the energy transition,
• As a platform where companies and technology agents can work and collaborate together to demonstrate new energy solutions, products and services in a real environment.
This project is aligned with the initiatives promoted by the Generalitat de Catalunya on the energy and ecological transition and focuses on the objectives defined by the Energy Outlook of Catalonia 2050 (Proencat 2050).
