The Basque Country strengthens its strategic partnership with Bavaria in the field of energy transition.

A delegation from Bayern Innovativ, an organisation that promotes innovation and business cooperation in Bavaria, has recently visited the Basque Country. Prof. Dr. Oliver Mayer, Head of Energy and Construction at Bayern Innovativ, and Christopher Ziegler, Head of the Bavarian Energy Cluster (itself part of Bayern Innovativ), were in the Basque Country from 17 to 19 September to learn about projects and technologies, to gain an insight into the regional energy ecosystem and to explore possible avenues for collaboration. The visit was also a preliminary step to Bavaria's political and commercial mission to the Basque Country planned for 2026.

Bayern Innovativ expressed a specific interest in hydrogen and renewable fuels as one of its new lines of action for energy (Hydrogen Centre Bavaria | Zentrum Wasserstoff.Bayern (H2.B). Within this context, the delegation was welcomed at the EIC - Energy Intelligence Centre in Abanto-Zierbena by Joseba García, Director General of the EIC Foundation, and Asier Madariaga, from Alba Emission Free Energy and a member of the BH2C Technical Office, who showed them the roadmap of initiatives and milestones achieved to date within the ongoing projects of the aforementioned organisations. The session was also attended by Lander Diego and Asier Querejeta from BTI - Basque Trade & Investment.

The delegation's schedule also included meetings with the Basquenergy Cluster and visits to other leading companies and projects such as Cegasa, Basquevolt, the Port of Bilbao, Tecnalia, H2Site, Izpitek and Sener. The meetings provided an opportunity to showcase the strengths of the Basque ecosystem in energy storage, hydrogen, renewable fuels, marine energy, solar energy and industrial efficiency, as well as its strategic role in decarbonisation and the energy transition, opening up new opportunities for collaboration with Bavaria on joint innovation and energy transition projects.