Today, the councillor of the Economy, Industry and Employment in the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, Patricia Franco; the Managing Director of Industry, Energy and Mining, José Luis Cabezas; the Mayor of Almodóvar del Campo, José Lozano; the Mayor of Puertollano, Mayte Fernández; the Power Generation Development Director at Naturgy, Carlos González, and the delegate of Renewable Project Development in Castilla-La Mancha for Naturgy, David Muñoz, visited the La Nava solar photovoltaic plant, the first the company will implement in the province of Ciudad Real.
The La Nava plant, located between the towns of Almodóvar del Campo and Puertollano, will have 145,464 photovoltaic modules and an output of 49 megawatts (MW). It will produce around 100 GWh per year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 27,510 properties, exceeding the annual electricity consumption of the inhabitants in these two towns.
Naturgy’s investment in this project is around €34 million and the company will create 150 jobs in the construction, operation and maintenance stages. This facility will enable a reduction in the use of other conventional power generation sources, helping to cut CO2 emissions by around 89,000 tonnes, as well as reducing other polluting emissions.
“With this new photovoltaic plant, Naturgy reaffirms its commitment to Castilla-La Mancha and underlines the company’s strong commitment to increasing renewable power generation, as reflected in our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan”, stated Carlos González, Power Generation Development Director at Naturgy.
Commitment to Castilla-La Mancha
In 2018, in addition to La Nava, Naturgy started constructing the Picón I, Picón II and Picón III solar photovoltaic plants in the town of Porzuna in Ciudad Real province. Each of these three plants has a peak power of 50 MW and will require a collective total investment of more than €90 million.
On the other hand, in February in the province of Toledo, the company opened the Carpio de Tajo plant in the town of El Carpio de Tajo, the largest facility of its kind in the province. At this plant, with a power of 50 MW, Naturgy has invested €33 million and created 150 jobs during the construction, operation and maintenance stages.
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.
