EDP presents investment of 470 million in Asturias for the energy transition
The plan includes the first floating wind farm in Spain for Asturias and Soto de Ribera as the green battery of the region. It also promotes projects related to green hydrogen and energy storage.
EDP accelerates the energy transition. The company, which aims to be 100% green in 2030, announces the first floating wind farm in Spain for Asturias and promotes projects related to green hydrogen and energy storage in the Principality. These are EDP's plans for the autonomous community, where it wants to contribute decisively to promoting the generation of 100% renewable energy and favoring industrial decarbonization.
The plans of the company, which has its main center for all Spain in Asturias, have been presented to the President of the Government of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, by the top managers of energy in Spain, its president, Manuel Menéndez, and its CEO, Rui Teixeira.
The directors of the company have presented to the Asturian president EDP's commitment to the region, where it has been developing its activity for 20 years, boosting the economy and generating quality employment. Now, in the midst of the energy transition, the company wants to reinforce its leadership with ambitious projects related to this transition, associated with million-dollar investments in which the support of the administration is key.
EDP has ambitious energy transformation plans for Asturias, where it could develop projects worth 470 million euros, mainly at its Soto de Ribera and Aboño sites, as well as at the first floating wind farm in Spain.
Soto de Ribera, the green battery of Asturias
EDP's plans in Soto de Ribera, for which group 3 has already requested closure authorization, also involve renewable energies. The company could turn this site into a reference center for the storage of renewable energy and new uses of green hydrogen.
With regard to renewable generation, EDP has already started the processing of a mini-hydraulic power plant with hydroscrews that would take advantage of the waters of the Nalón, as it passes through the plant. This installation will be added to a photo-voltaic park that the company plans to start on the site's grounds.
The renewable energy generated by both facilities would be poured into the grid to meet demand. It would allow the production and storage of green hydrogen, and the surplus would be stored in two types of batteries: Lithium Ion and a combination of RedOx and second-hand batteries - for example, of vehicles. In addition, EDP is working on various other projects for the storage of liquid air to generate electricity.
As for the new uses of green hydrogen, the company proposes different projects. It plans to build a hydrogeneration station -hydrogen gas station- with the aim of contributing to the decarbonization of passenger and freight transport; it will promote the decarbonization of the surrounding industries; and it will carry out tests in combined cycles, in a scenario that would facilitate the replacement of natural gas currently used by green hydrogen.
Aboño, valley of green hydrogen
The Aboño thermal power plant has been, for almost 50 years, a guarantee for the stability of the electricity supply of Asturian industry. EDP's plans include maintaining this role in the energy transition.
The company, which has announced that it will stop producing with coal in 2025, plans to convert this strategic location into the Asturian valley of green hydrogen. The technical and market knowledge and the privileged geographical location of the facility would guarantee the production and supply for the Asturian electricity and green hydrogen industry necessary in its manufacturing processes.
EDP contemplates the start-up of a photovoltaic park in the current Aboño facilities, which, added to the floating offshore wind farm that the company projects on the Asturian coast and together with easy access to water, electrical infrastructures and the port of El Musel, would allow the necessary production and storage of green hydrogen in Aboño.
This green hydrogen could also replace fossil fuels that are currently used to support the energy use of iron and steel gases, a waste that would otherwise be burned in a flare and be emitted directly into the atmosphere. Thanks to green hydrogen, this condition of circular economy and energy revaluation would be maintained.
