Today, the President of the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government, Emiliano García-Page; the Regional Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, Patricia Franco; the President of the Toledo Provincial Council, Álvaro Gutiérrez; the Mayor of El Carpio de Tajo, Germán Jiménez; the General Manager of Gas and Electricity at Naturgy, Manuel Fernández; and the General Manager of Power Generation at Naturgy, Ana Peris, attended the inauguration of the Carpio de Tajo photovoltaic solar plant, which is the largest facility of its kind in the province of Toledo.
This plant, located in the small town of El Carpio de Tajo, will have 148,422 modules and 50 megawatts (MW) of power. It will produce about 90 GWh a year, which is equivalent to the annual consumption of around 25,000 homes and more than the electricity consumed by the inhabitants of Carpio de Tajo and Talavera de la Reina.
Naturgy’s investment in this project will amount to €33 million and the company has created 150 jobs in the construction, operation and maintenance stages. This infrastructure will enable a reduction in the use of conventional sources of power generation, helping reduce CO2 emissions by around 53,000 tonnes per year – 1,304,800 tonnes over its life span – as well as reducing other environmentally harmful emissions.
“With this project, Naturgy is reinforcing its commitment to Castilla-La Mancha and demonstrating the company’s strong commitment to increasing renewable power generation, as reflected in our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan”, underlined Manuel Fernández, Gas and Electricity director at Naturgy.
Commitment to Castilla-La Mancha
In addition to Carpio de Tajo, in 2018 Naturgy began the construction process for La Nava, Picón I, Picón II and Picón III photovoltaic solar plants in the province of Ciudad Real. La Nava, which will be put into operation shortly, is a facility located in Almodóvar del Campo and Puertollano (Ciudad Real) with an installed power of 49 MW and an investment of over €34 million. Picón I, Picón II and Picón III, located in the municipality of Porzuna, each have 50 MW of peak power. The total investment in these plants is expected to be over €90 million.
Naturgy also operates another facility with the same technology, Toledo PV, in La Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo). It is the oldest in Europe and entered operation in 1994 with a peak power of 1 MW; this year it celebrates 25 years of operation.
In addition, the company has nine wind farms in Castilla-La Mancha, which generated 540 GWh in 2018, covering the electricity needs of about 200,000 homes and preventing the emission of 170,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Naturgy’s renewables subsidiary
The renewables subsidiary of the multinational power company closed 2018 with an installed capacity in operation of 1,179 MW in Spain (1,012 MW from wind, 109 MW from mini-hydroelectric plants and 58 MW from cogeneration and photovoltaics).
Naturgy has been recognised for the eighth consecutive year as a world leader for its actions combating climate change, according to the prestigious index drawn up by CDP, the non-profit organisation that every year analyses the action taken against climate change by major companies at international level.