The Lada-Velilla Open Innovation Platform is an initiative of Iberdrola, the Centre for Innovation in Technology for Human Development of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (itdUPM) and the Agirre Lehendakaria Center (ALC) that promotes collaboration between citizens, public entities and companies to promote a just transition in the territories that must deal with the closure processes of Iberdrola’s coal-fired power plants.

From the Platform we listen to as many people as possible in the area to know their opinions and perceptions, as well as the challenges and opportunities of the territory; we identify all initiatives and projects, new or existing, large or small, that are of interest to the community; and we create the space for collaboration between different actors and for the connection of initiatives and projects.

As a result of this process of listening, mapping of initiatives and co-creation, the Platform has configured a portfolio of transformative projects aimed at achieving the socio-productive transformation of the territory towards a more sustainable model, and which is made up of these eight specific areas of opportunity for the Nalón Valley just transition zone: food, energy, training, health, recycling, regulation, financing and green employment.

Why have these eight areas of opportunity been selected and not others? On the one hand, because they are areas where there are already initiatives with tractor potential that take advantage of the unique needs and capacities of a territory, and, on the other hand, because these initiatives respond to previously identified community perceptions or narratives.

For the portfolio to be strong and robust, it is important that the interconnected projects are diverse in nature and scale, and that the portfolio includes community initiatives, small and medium scale actions, large scale initiatives, new utilities and new regulatory mechanisms.

We invite you to explore which projects have been identified for the town of Lada and to discover which local citizens’ narratives they respond to.

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Select the area of opportunity you want to know about below:

FOOD SYSTEMSENERGYTRAININGHEALTHCIRCULAR ECONOMYREGULATIONFINANCINGGREEN EMPLOYMENT

  • Area of opportunity: Power systems

Agro-food space project: what would it consist of? 

It would be an R&D&I centre to support the agri-food and sustainable industry: its activities would focus on the demonstration of food preservation and transformation technologies, such as preservation in controlled atmospheres, preservation without refrigeration, packaging with bioplastics, uperisation processes, etc.

On the other hand, new sustainable and environmentally friendly food products could also be developed for market launch.
In addition, it could also benefit from more affordable energy generated through the heat network.

Profiles to which it responds

Ramon

Ivan

Luis

Angel

Josefa

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 2

  • Area of opportunity: Energy

In this area, three projects have been identified as having the potential to attract and connect: a heat network, a green hydrogen generation plant and a biomass production centre.

Heat network project: what would it consist of?

Existing surplus heat in the area, generated from industrial activity, could be harnessed to feed a heat network that would provide renewable energy at lower cost.

This is a potential new business, and this cheaper energy could serve residential customers, as well as schools or industrial customers who set up in the area.

Profiles to which it responds

Jorge

Ramon

Ivan

Angel

Green hydrogen generation plant project: what would it consist of?

It would be a plant for generating hydrogen and manufacturing tanks for its storage and transport.

Ramon

Ivan

Angel

Forest biomass production centre project: what would it consist of?

The abundance of forest and renewable resources, in addition to the Nalón valley’s history of energy generation, gives rise to the idea of building a biomass power plant, an industrial facility designed to generate electricity from biological resources.

This plant would have digesters, i.e. facilities that produce biogas from the forest mass and the waste that the forest itself generates, but it could also be connected to businesses in the design and construction of wooden buildings, ecological insulation, or energy rehabilitation. It could also lead to the production and sale of future materials such as nano-cellulose or bioplastics. And finally, it could be linked to activities such as reforestation, sensorisation and monitoring of forests, or the offsetting of CO2 emission rights. If we take HUNOSA’s La Pereda power plant (in Mieres) as an example, a power plant of this type, with all the activities it would generate, could create around 300 jobs.

Ivan

Angel

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 7

SDG 9

SDG 12

  • Area of opportunity: Training

Project to convert the Lada 2 Central into an ADEMI training centre: what would it consist of? 

The ADEMI (Association of Engineering, Assembly, Maintenance and Industrial Services Companies) training centres are a benchmark in the industrial sector. Based on its experience, ADEMI is interested in the Lada 2 Centre because, due to its technical characteristics, it can
easily be converted into a space to develop training and eminently practical actions. It would have the potential to provide training for approximately 15,000 people per year.

The establishment of such an initiative could boost other activities in the area, necessarily linked to the influx of students and teachers in the territory, such as a convention centre, a residential complex with co-working spaces, leisure and sports facilities. ADEMI Association of Engineering, Assembly, Maintenance and Industrial Services Companies.

The facilities could also be shared with vocational training institutes in Langreo, which could have part of their activity there.

Profiles to which it responds

Lucia

Ramon

Angel

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 4

SDG 9

SDG 12

  • Area of opportunity: Health

Cognitive and motor skills maintenance and rehabilitation centre: what would it consist of?

There is a proposal to create a clinical validation centre, where socio-health and biomedical companies can test and validate non-invasive preventive and rehabilitation technologies aimed at maintaining the physical and cognitive abilities of the elderly, delaying the dependency phase and increasing quality of life.

The technologies that could be experimented with would be, for example, robotic therapies, electrotherapy, magnet therapy, vibrotherapy, etc. The centre would help to meet the need to shorten the timeframe for research and development of these technologies and methodologies, and to generate the necessary evidence for their large-scale implementation.

Profiles to which it responds

Jorge

Josefa

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 3

  • Area of opportunity: Circular economy

In this area, two projects have been identified that have the potential to be a driving force and are connected: a recycling plant for second-life batteries and a centre for innovation in the circular economy.

Second-life battery recycling plant: what would it consist of?

Batteries are far from finished when they wear out: they only reach the end of their first useful life. In reality, at the end of their autonomous life, batteries still have residual capacity, and can be put to a variety of uses if combined with other energy sources such as renewables.

The second life battery recycling plant would not only allow for the reuse and recycling of the materials they contain at the end of their useful life. It would also be a space for research and experimentation at the disposal of the different companies in the energy sector, as well as a place for training and for detecting regulatory barriers in this recycling process.

Profiles to which it responds

Jorge

Ramon

Ivan

Angel

Circular economy innovation centre: what would it consist of?

It would be a centre for the circularisation of the economy and a living lab for experimenting with the reuse of materials and assets from the area’s industrial activity. Its activity would focus on three axes:

The development of best waste reduction practices in the field of construction and demolition, which generates the largest volume of waste in the European Union.

The development of a materials passport for re-use (which would work with manufacturers and certification processes).

A space for experimentation and knowledge generation in advanced recycling, in anticipation of a likely change in European legislation that will soon adopt the Nordic model for the whole continent.

It could be connected to the heat grid to access more affordable energy.

Jorge

Ramon

Angel

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 9

SDG 12

  • Area of opportunity: Regulation 

Regulatory sandbox: what is it?

A regulatory sandbox is literally a test bed for small-scale regulatory innovation and testing the results before implementing large-scale regulations.

The Nalón Valley just transition zone, due to its need to transform its socio-productive model, offers the conditions to be a space for advanced regulatory experimentation, which would allow the just transition zones in Spain to position itself as a unique space in the national context.

This regulatory sandbox could be linked to thematic areas such as the circular economy or energy.

Profiles to which it responds

Victoria

Ramon

Luis

Angel

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 17

  • Area of opportunity: Financing

Seed capital investment fund: what would it consist of?

Based on 50% of the energy savings achieved by energy efficiency investments in the region by public institutions, a fund for investment, acceleration and capitalisation of green businesses could be generated.

Profiles to which it responds

Ramon

Angel

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 7

SDG 8

SDG 9

  • Opportunity area: Green jobs

The Platform for Green Jobs and Entrepreneurship is an alliance created with the idea of taking advantage of the new green jobs generated by the ecological transition and connecting them with people in vulnerable situations, reducing social exclusion.

Its working method is based on personalised accompaniment, promoting self-employment and collective employment in the green economy, and through professional re-qualification. It is made up of four partners: the Spanish Green Growth Group; Ingeus / Daleph; the Polytechnic University of Madrid, ECODES – Ecology and Development Foundation.

Profiles to which it responds

Victoria

Ivan

Luis

Angel

Jorge

Ramon

Lucia

Josefa

What Sustainable Development Goals does this area of opportunity contribute to?

SDG 4

SDG 8

Link to: CONTACTO

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