Power utility EDP invests €550M in clean energy in Spain

EDP Spain presented on Tuesday at the Los Barrios Town Hall, in Andalusia, the project to transform its thermal power plant plans to invest over €550 million.

The company wants to transform the Los Barrios thermal power plant (coal) into a unit “focused on green hydrogen, renewables and storage,” EDP Spain said in a press release.

This conversion will allow the supply of renewable energy throughout the industrial area of Campo de Gibraltar (province of Cadiz) and in the future export energy by sea.

The company said that it intends to make a “decisive contribution” to boosting the production of 100% renewable energy, to promote industrial decarbonisation fairly and inclusively, and to reconvert the factory, currently in the process of closure, with a “solid, innovative and forward-looking” project.

EDP Spain added that the aim is to “convert this site into a hydrogen hub to decarbonise nearby industries, favouring their continuity in the face of the energy transition” and envisages a 255 MW (megawatt) energy storage project with lithium-ion batteries.

EDP said it was working with several Andalusian industrial customers to launch energy efficiency and self-consumption projects and wants to “strengthen its leadership in the region with ambitious plans linked to energy transition”.

The EDP Group directly employs more than 1,550 people in Spain. It is one of the largest electricity generation companies in the country with a production of almost 4,600 MW (megawatts) of installed capacity, 1.3 million electricity distribution supply points and a sales portfolio to business customers of electricity, natural gas and services of more than 17 TWh (terawatt hours), according to the company.