Iberdrola Shutting Last Spanish Coal-fired Plants

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Spanish renewable energy major Iberdrola S.A. (BMAD:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain) is seeking permission from the Spanish government to shut its last coal-fired power plants.

The company has applied to the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Strategy to close the coal-fired power plants in Lada (Asturias) and Velilla (Palencia), which have a combined generating capacity of 874 megawatts (MW). The move forms a key part of the company's ongoing strategy to drastically reduce fossil fuel-based power from its mix. Once the remaining coal-fired plants are closed, the company's emissions-free capacity will stand at 68% globally, but this rises to 76% in Spain. The company said that security of supply will not be impacted by this initiative thanks to the 5,695-MW backup capacity supplied by its gas-fired fleet.

The 358-MW Lada and 516-MW Velilla power plants employ 170 people, all of whom will be reassigned to other Iberdrola facilities or take part in the decommissioning of the plants, which will take an estimated four years and cost 35 million euro ($41 million).

The company said that the closures will "firmly advance its clean energy plan and its target of reducing its CO2 emissions intensity by 50% in 2030 (from 2007 levels). Iberdrola's emissions are now 70% below its European peers, the company claimed, representing an improvement of 75% since the year 2000. Coal-fired power represents 1.8% of the group's total installed capacity of 48,062 MW and 1.5% of its electricity production for the first nine months of the year (1,596 gigawatt hours (GWh) out of 102,494 GWh). Last year, Iberdrola-owned ScottishPower Limited (Glasgow, Scotland) announced the shutdown of Scotland's last coal-fired plant. The 2,400-MW Longannet plant closed after 46 years of service. For additional information, see March 25, 2016, article - Scotland Shuts Last Coal-Fired Power Plant.

Iberdrola operates 28,778 MW of clean capacity from its renewable energy portfolio, mainly onshore and offshore wind (15,902 MW) and hydroelectric power (12,756 MW).

In recent weeks, Iberdrola was one of six major European utilities to call on the European Union (EU) to increase its 2030 renewable energy target for Europe from 27% to 35%. The group claimed that the higher target is achievable through the increased electrification of transport and heating sectors and a redesigned electricity market more suited to renewables.

"The proposed EU binding target of at least 27% share of renewable energy in EU final consumption by 2030 lacks and ambition and would slow-down the current rate of renewable deployment in the EU, affecting industrial value chains and putting at risk the gains and competitive advantage achieved in the past decade," the utilities wrote in their letter. "Thanks to the significant cost reductions realized over the last few years, renewables are now the most competitive option for new power generation in Europe. We are firmly convinced that through strong cooperation with other sectors an ambitious renewable energy target is within reach, since there are now energy carriers that can decarbonise to the same extent and scale as electricity."

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