José María Barreda and Ignacio Galán open Iberdrola Renovables’ first solar thermal power plant
- The plant is in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) and has installed capacity of 50 MW
- Annual output is estimated more than 100 million kWh, equivalent to the energy consumption of 100,000 people.
- The plant will avoid the emission of approximately 90,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere
- The new plant places Castilla-La Mancha at forefront of renewable energy development
- José María Barreda, President of the Castilla-La Mancha regional government, and Ignacio Galán, Chairman of IBERDROLA RENOVABLES, opened the company’s first solar thermal power plant today in Puertollano (Ciudad Real).
The ceremony was also attended by Enrique Jiménez, Head of IDAE (the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings); Joaquín Carlos Hermoso, Mayor of Puertollano; Paula Fernández, the Minister for Industry, Energy and the Environment of the region of Castilla-La Mancha; Xabier Viteri, CEO of IBERDROLA RENOVABLES; and Víctor M. Rodríguez, head of the company’s operations in Spain, among others.
The Puertollano solar thermal power plant, with an installed capacity of 50 megawatts (MW), is 90%-owned by IBERDROLA RENOVABLES and 10% by IDAE. The plant will produce an estimated more than 100 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, equivalent to the consumption of a town of approximately 100,000 habitants, and reduce CO2 emissions by around 90,000 tonnes. The investment has been around €200 million.
In his speech, Galán recalled that two years ago in Puertollano he announced plans to build the plant. “That day, with President Barreda present, I said this was going to be a state of the art project in terms of technology and environment, and that it would play a leading role in fostering sustainable growth for Puertollano and its surrounding area,” he said.
“Today, we can all see that IBERDROLA has stood by its commitment, and that our bet on innovation and on this region has become reality. We are witnessing a pioneering project in Europe that will reinforce Puertollano’s role as International City of Energy, and that of Castilla-La Mancha as a benchmark for renewable energy in Spain,” Galán added.
This plant is an example of IBERDROLA RENOVABLES’ commitment to new technologies and has directly generated 60 new jobs in the area. On average 200 workers were employed in the plant’s construction, with as many as 650 during peak workload.
The facility has a solar collection area of nearly 290,000 m2, occupies approximately 150 hectares and consists of 352 parabolic-cylinder collectors, fitted with 120,000 parabolic mirrors and 13,000 absorber tubes. It puts Castilla-La Mancha at the forefront of solar energy development and reinforces leadership in renewable energy in Spain.
IBERDROLA RENOVABLES is the leading developer of clean energy in Castilla-La Mancha, where it has invested over €2.4 billion to date. The company has an installed capacity of 1,930 megawatts (MW) in the region: 1,835 MW from its 54 wind farms (26 in Albacete, 14 in Cuenca, 13 in Guadalajara, and one in Toledo), and 95 MW from its small-scale hydroelectric plants.
The company has generated over 500 jobs in Castilla-La Mancha since setting up operations in the region in 1999, the region, 334 of which are on the company’s own payroll, while an additional 200 jobs have been created through local companies with which contracts have been signed.
IBERDROLA RENOVABLES is currently building a 2 MW biomass plant in Corduente (Guadalajara) fuelled by forest waste from the Alto Tajo Natural Park. It will not only produce energy, but will also enable further progress on research into electricity generation from biomass.
IBERDROLA RENOVABLES reinforced its status as global leader in wind power (1) in the first quarter of 2009, ending the period with a total installed capacity of 9,624 MW and the industry’s largest project portfolio, with 56,000 MW(2).
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