The regional government has given the green light to one of the year’s most significant industrial investments in the Zona Media: nearly €60 million that Danish group Rockwool will invest to fully electrify its rock wool plant in Caparroso. The declaration of regional interest speeds up the project’s administrative procedures and, according to the Navarra government, secures around 200 direct jobs.
The Government of Navarra approved this week the classification of Rockwool Peninsular’s decarbonisation plan for its Caparroso plant as a project of regional interest. The designation, granted under Ley Foral 15/2009 on administrative simplification, allows most standard permitting and planning procedures to be cut in half — a mechanism the regional government reserves for projects it considers strategic for Navarra’s economy.
The plan rests on two pillars. The first involves replacing the fossil fuels currently used to melt basalt rock with high-power electric furnaces, a line item that will account for €50 million of the €60 million total. The second consists of building a hybrid self-consumption facility — combining wind and solar power, with a combined capacity of around 12 MW — capable of covering 15% of the plant’s electricity needs.
The expected outcome is striking: a 74% cut in direct greenhouse gas emissions, bringing the plant down from its current 52,072 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent to just over 13,000 tonnes a year once the process is completed, which is expected by 2028.
A transformation that began in 2021
Rockwool has been working since 2021 on a sustainability plan built around three pillars — energy efficiency, circular economy and electrification — and the investment now recognised by Navarra marks the completion of that roadmap. The project also carries €18 million in backing from the national decarbonisation PERTE fund.
Navarra’s Minister for Industry and Ecological and Digital Business Transition, Mikel Irujo, has stressed that the move strengthens the long-term viability of a plant that stands as one of the main drivers of industrial employment in the Zona Media. Plant director Santiago Osés struck a similar note, describing the project as far more than an investment — the culmination of a transformation process launched five years ago.
With more than 25 years of activity in Caparroso and annual output exceeding 110,000 tonnes, Rockwool Peninsular currently supplies markets in Spain, Portugal, France and North Africa, and is part of a multinational group with more than a century of history in the insulation industry.
Source: Diario de Navarra