Naturgy has begun the construction of three new photovoltaic plants in Castilla-La Mancha. These are the Zorita I and Zorita II facilities, located in the surroundings of the former ‘José Cabrera’ Nuclear Power Plant, between the municipalities of Almonacid de Zorita and Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara), and the Ocaña plant, in the municipal area of Ocaña (Toledo).
The Group will invest more than 76 million euros in the three plants, which together will add 150 MWp of new renewable power for Castilla-La Mancha and will create more than 1,000 jobs in its different construction and operation phases.
The three new photovoltaic plants will produce around 310 GWh per year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 86,000 homes, and will displace the use of other sources of conventional electricity generation, helping to avoid the emission of more than 172,000 tons of CO2 per year. The entry into operation of these facilities is scheduled for 2025.
With the start of these works, Naturgy consolidates its commitment to the energy transition in Castilla-La Mancha. In addition to these three photovoltaic plants, the Group manages another 20 renewable energy projects in the region with which it plans to add 1,000 new MW of power.
These are five battery storage projects hybridized with solar energy; 12 projects to hybridize wind farms with photovoltaic technology and three to hybridize three hydroelectric plants with solar energy. Projects that are in different stages of processing and that will contribute to strengthening the quality of the supply of the Spanish electricity system, allowing a greater introduction of renewable energy into the network.
Bet on Castilla-La Mancha
With these three new solar installations, Naturgy reinforces its commitment to Castilla-La Mancha, where it currently operates more than 1,150 MW of wind, photovoltaic and hydraulic power through 29 installations spread across different provinces.
The company manages 12 wind farms: Loma Gorda, San Gil y Peña I (Tartanedo), Canredondo I (Canredondo), in Guadalajara; Malagón I and Malagón II, in Ciudad Real; and Los Pedreros (Fuente Álamo), Sierra de la Oliva (Almansa), La Losilla (Chinchilla de Montearagón), La Fuensanta (Peñas de San Pedro) and Casa del Aire I and II (El Bonillo), in Albacete.
Regarding photovoltaic technology, Naturgy operates seven solar plants. The Picón I, Picón II and Picón III (Porzuna) and La Nava (Almodóvar del Campo) plants are located in the province of Ciudad Real and in Toledo, Carpio de Tajo (El Carpio de Tajo), which began operating in 2019. as well as the Toledo PV photovoltaic, in La Puebla de Montalbán, which is the oldest in Europe, since it began its activity in 1994 with a peak power of 1 MW. In Guadalajara, on the other hand, the Canredondo plant came into operation in 2021.
Finally, and in terms of hydroelectric generation, the company operates in Castilla-La Mancha nine hydraulic plants in the provinces of Guadalajara, Cuenca and Toledo, and a mini-hydraulic plant in Guadalajara.
Commitment to the energy transition
Naturgy has assumed the commitment to be one of the key players in the energy transition towards a circular and decarbonized economy model. The group allocated 90% of the investment carried out in 2023 to energy transition projects, with 1,730 million focused on the generation of renewable energy and more than 900 million on distribution networks.
Naturgy currently has around 6.5 GW of installed renewable generation capacity in operation (3.3 GW of wind generation, 2.2 GW of hydroelectric generation and 1 GW of photovoltaic), and expects to end the year 2024 with around 8 GW of operational installed capacity, to which should be added a pipeline of projects in development of almost 20 GW, mainly in Spain, Australia and the US.
In the field of renewable gases, Naturgy manages a total of 70 projects in different stages of progress, all of them in Spanish territory and focused on biomethane (60 projects) and hydrogen (10 projects). Naturgy wants to lead in our country the opportunity that biomethane represents as a vector of the energy transition. According to the latest analyzes by the gas association Sedigas, the potential of biomethane in Spain could reach 160 TWh, equivalent to 50% of the current demand for natural gas.
