- The project has received the Energy Transition Changemakers award in Dubai in the ‘Renewable Energy, Renewable Energy Integration and Clean Energy’ category
- This award recognizes private-sector initiatives that develop innovative, globally scalable projects demonstrating solutions to help advance the energy transition
The Presidency of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), being held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, has recognized Endesa’s Just Transition project in Andorra with the Energy Transition Changemakers award as one of the most innovative private-sector initiatives to accelerate a just energy transition.
The award in the Renewable Energy, Renewable Energy Integration and Clean Energy category represents international recognition for this project, which last year won the access capacity tender in the Andorra Just Transition area launched by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. The company has designed a future plan for the area where its thermal power plant was located, which is currently being dismantled.
“The Presidency was looking for projects that would accelerate the energy transition, change the rules of the game and benefit society as a whole. I believe the project perfectly embodies this idea of leaving no one behind,” explained Jorge Pina, Endesa’s Environment Director, while accepting the award in Dubai. “Since winning the tender, we have been working on implementing Andorra’s future plan, a socioeconomic support plan developed through a participatory process over almost three years with more than 30 local stakeholders. The plan seeks to create wealth and opportunities for the surrounding area through a transformative and collaborative process that will offset the loss of economic activity resulting from the closure of the thermal power plant, which for 40 years was the driving force behind the local economy. It is a new project that goes beyond purely energy-related activities. That previous work led us to design a plan focused not only on renewable energy, but also, and above all, on a socioeconomic and environmental plan to support this future, making use of the territory’s endogenous resources and drawing on its three productive sectors,” Pina concluded in his speech while accepting the award.
The Energy Transition Changemakers awards specifically recognize this innovation, this forward-looking vision applied to the project, and the potential scalability of its development in other countries. Endesa’s project is the only Spanish project in the renewable energy category to receive recognition in Dubai, as Endesa has extended this approach to other countries, such as Portugal, where it also won the just transition tender for the Pego area following the closure of the thermal power plant there.
“The Andorra Just Transition project marks a before and after because it was approached from perspectives that differ from conventional ones,” Pina said. “To address the problem of depopulation, we incorporated the technological and energy components with the area’s socioeconomic needs from the design stage through collaborative approaches, together with the efforts resulting from public planning and the private implementation of measures that contribute to addressing these situations. For all these reasons, it is a benchmark that will improve knowledge and encourage the development of new initiatives that increasingly support the deployment of renewable energy, while also contributing to maintaining rural populations and ensuring a just transition.”
About Endesa
Endesa is a leading electricity company in Spain and the second-largest in Portugal. It is also the second-largest gas operator in the Spanish market. It operates an integrated electricity generation, distribution and retail business. Through Endesa X, it also offers value-added services aimed at electrifying energy use in homes, businesses, industries and public administrations, including electric mobility, where it is one of the leading charging point operators in Spain. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, as such, is strongly promoting the development of renewable energy through Enel Green Power España, the digitalization of grids through e-distribución, and Corporate Social Responsibility. In this latter area, we also operate through the Endesa Foundation. Our workforce comprises around 9,260 employees. Endesa is part of Enel, Europe’s largest electricity group.