The Principality’s Department of Mobility, Environment and Emergency Management has given the go-ahead to the project by approving the “strategic environmental assessment” contained in the document, so that it will not be necessary to carry out a full environmental impact assessment, which would require more time. The Principality considers that the project submitted by Hunosa and endorsed by the Langreo City Council is sufficient, if the parameters established in it are met, to guarantee the environmental viability of the plant.
The so-called “special plan for the implementation of new uses linked to the installation of urban productive activities with a renewable matrix” of Fondón reorganises the 22,325 square metres occupied by the shaft and its installations, including the Hunosa Historical Archive, the headquarters of the Mining Rescue Brigade and the “base” of the Fondón heat network. The urban development modification makes the use of part of this plot for the hydrogen plant compatible.
Thus, according to the document, there are 3,065 square metres of the Fondón plot that are in disuse and that would be destined for “installations of renewable matrix producing activities”. In other words, projects aimed at promoting green energy, such as the “MINE-TO-H2”. The cost of the whole urban development operation, which would be borne by Hunosa, would exceed 1.1 million, to which the final investment for the hydrogen plant must be added.
