While Pontes encourages a green and diverse “industrial revolution”

He the energy transition process that As Pontes is going through It was a real industrial stimulus for the municipality, which already has a deep-rooted production and business tradition. The city that was born on the heat of coal is now laying the groundwork to continue to be one of the country’s main energy enclaves, although it will stop using minerals and start producing electricity and green fuels. On the path of this paradigm shift, all administrations cooperate: local, regional and state, favoring a socioeconomic ecosystem that, despite attracting new and large investments, does not forget the small businesses that are committed to entrepreneurship in the municipality and that together support thousands of jobs.

In order to address the current moment the city is going through, La Voz de Galicia organized a meeting under the title Industrialization of the council of As Pontes. An opportunity to publicize the economic and social benefits of industrialization in the area, which was attended by representatives of some companies from the city’s business network, companies that will materialize new factories in its area, and the mayor, socialist Valentín González Formoso. This happened at Casa Dopeso.

“Who a real industrial revolution is happening here, in which we have new projects worth 1,400 million euros”, emphasized the councilor, who stated that the joint work of all administrations enables the crystallisation of investments that deepen the commitment to diversification already consolidated in the municipality. Thus, it has factories for telecommunications equipment, metal structures, wood laminates, pellets, finished products, prestressed steel cables and components for wind farms, among many other products. Together, they support 4,400 jobs, a figure that will increase exponentially when the new industries that have already begun the process of establishing themselves in the municipality start operating.

That is the case Ence, which will launch part of the land of the Endesa thermal power plant —which is carrying out the closing process, awaiting the final green light from the central government— a circular economy complex structured in several phases: it will consist of a factory for the recovery of cardboard and paper fibers; a second plant where it will be mixed with native fibers from their Pontevedra plant and a 50 megawatt cogeneration plant to feed the rest. Antonio Casal, the territorial director of Ence in Galicia, announced that in a few days he will ask Xunta to declare it a strategic industrial project (PIE) — which allows for express processing — in order to receive its approval at the end of next year and start work in the final months 2026 or the first months of 2027.

The the company plans to invest HRK 350 million —125 in the first phase— with an initiative that will create about 1,200 jobs, including direct, indirect and induced.

Companies such as Ence, Reganosa or EDP Renovables, which have new major business activities for the old mining town, but also others that have been part of the Pontese business network for years, agree on the main advantages that the town offers. Industrial culture and tradition is one of them, which means that every investor, both multinational companies promoting campaigns worth hundreds of millions of euros, and small entrepreneurs with two or three employees, is listened to and supported in all procedures. “The industrial interest that As Pontes has is very notable, the reception we have is fantastic”, confirms Juan Rey Couselo, regional representative of EDP Renovables. The Portuguese energy company is promoting, in alliance with Reganos, the construction of four wind farms, a reversible pumping station and a hydrogen production facility of up to 100 megawatts.

Paloma Díaz, the coordinator of this latest project in Reganosa, also alludes to the industrial tradition of the municipality, in addition to other factors, such as the extraordinary natural resources — such as wind, water and natural gas — that are key to the production of green energy. Challenging the first phase of the plant — to be made in three — to start operating in 2025, Díaz explained that the hydrogen produced in the old mining town will be used to decarbonize industries — initially local — and also for the transport sector. For this they already have the design of the distribution channels, including the water line and also the tanker trucks. EUR 156 million will be invested in the terminal, which will enable the creation of around 300 direct jobs, both in the construction process and in the operation and maintenance process. But indirect employment will amount to 2,500 jobs.

“It will be the most efficient plant in all of Spain, because when there is no wind, it will use water from the pumping station that will be built in the lake,” added the mayor. In addition, he explained that this infrastructure, which will have a four-year implementation period, will involve moving the earth “similar to that of the As Pontes mine in its good days”.

In addition to the mentioned projects that are already in the processing phase, there are other companies that have decided to grow in the municipality and that play a leading role in its industrialization. This is the case of Prometal, specialized in metal structures for various sectors. Focused on exports, the company is facing a period of expansion that will lead it to expand its facilities, which will increase from the current 1,800 square meters to 4,000. This growth will also translate, as explained by Daniel Filgueiras, the company’s director, into an increase in the workforce. “We will employ ten people, with which we will reach 30 workers by the end of the year.”

France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium are the main foreign markets for which the company carries out various projects, although it is currently working on a tunnel between Denmark and Germany and has just completed formwork for a port in Senegal.

Mónica Carballeira, Vice President of Third Part Invenergy Services, is another Pontesa who is committed to the socioeconomic development of her homeland. A founding partner of Huso 29, in November 2022 the company —specialized in the installation, management and maintenance of wind farms— was acquired by the aforementioned American company, which is one of the largest private green energy operators in the United States.

“We are in the construction phase of new buildings in As Pontes, in order to support the installation, operation and maintenance service at the European level from here,” he explains. In Spain, opportunities come from the process of reinvigorating the oldest wind farms, a market that will have to involve more personnel in the company, and which has led it to bet on the implementation of dual vocational training.

“Today, there is no sector that does not complain about the lack of manpower. This is a consideration that must be done urgently. What is unimaginable is that there are industries in the municipality and may encounter operational problems due to lack of staff,” said Rodríguez Formoso.

Galcore, which belongs to Hierros Añón, is also part of the socioeconomic framework of Pontés. Juan Gómez, production manager at the plant, the only prestressed iron plant operating in Galicia and the second in the country, along with another in Santander, pointed out that the strategy facing the company includes exports. “We are entering the British and French markets,” he explained. The company, like many operating in the old mining town, believes in the synergies that can develop between companies already operating in the municipality — in Galcore’s case, the old Daxion in Spain — and new factories settling in the town.

Behind the industrial revolution that has been launched in the municipality is the decarbonization process that the city is experiencing due to the goal of the Enel group —owner of Endesa— to stop producing electricity from coal in order to make way for production exclusively from renewable energy sources. José Antonio Menéndez, Director of Institutional Relations in the Northwest of Endesa, insisted that the power company “showed its will to survive” since, although it will close the coal plant, it will continue to operate the combined cycle plant, which uses gas and steam to generate electricity. electricity production. In addition, there are projects for the construction of new wind farms and other investments, both own and acquired abroad, which will stimulate the economic life of the city. “I hope he’s in there the future of As Pontes will be a center for the maintenance of wind farms,” ​​he said.

Concello Pontés will participate as a partner in the first of the wind farms that Endesa will materialize in order to replace the 1,400 megawatts of energy, which it will cease to have when the thermal plant closes, for renewable energy production facilities.

And businessmen who Bet on As Pontes to materialize new investments like those that already have industrial results in the city coincide, pointing out that not only the municipality, but also the entire region, has a promising future. “This is a very exciting moment,” noted the head of production at Hierros Añón. “There are good expectations for As Pontes, but also for Ferrol, with the work it has in the offshore wind power sector and the maritime sector,” added Daniel Filgueiras.

The person in charge of the Reganos hydrogen factory elaborated on the possibilities that this energy source opens up for the business ecosystem. “There will be companies that will be able to produce new equipment, logistics companies will also be needed. Together we can make this area a leader in the energy transition,” he said.

Another of the expectations for the future that the businessmen and the councilor agree on is the abomination that new industries can bring to the recovery of the population in the municipality. For Mónica Carballeira, the new business panorama will allow not only an increase in jobs, but also but also that As Pontes continues to be a benchmark for the development of sports activities and socially for their children and neighbors.

“Diversification must be a daily bet, so that you don’t wait all day whether the chimney is smoking or not. That path, hand in hand with the Junta and the state, will allow us to become a city within 15 or 20 years,” said the mayor of Pontes.