The facilities will be located in the towns of Cortes and Lumbier and their promoters will be, on the one hand, EnergyLoop, a company promoted by Iberdrola and FCC, and Acciona, on the other. In addition to these projects, the region will also host five wind power repowering initiatives that will receive 10 million euros in funding, as well as three actions to improve hydroelectric plants. This was confirmed by the Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen, at the 3rd International Industry Congress for Energy Transition (CITE 2023).
The Cortes recycling centre will be developed under the name EnergyLoop, will have a budget of 8.5 million euros and will create around 100 jobs “between direct and indirect”. It is expected to be operational as early as 2024. The future factory in Lumbier, Waste2Fiber, will involve a total investment of 16.2 million euros, of which 5,258,488 euros will be subsidised. The Navarrese company RenerCycle is also participating in the project.
The region is thus making a significant investment in the renewable energy sector, of which it was a pioneer at the time. It is now committed to an activity that will continue to grow as the first wind farms reach the end of their useful life (around 25 years) and the old machines are replaced by new, larger and much more powerful ones. Mostly made of composites (glass and carbon fibres and resins), wind turbine blades will have a new life as secondary raw materials in different sectors such as the energy, aerospace, automotive, textile, chemical and construction industries.
In this context, Sara Aagesen recalled that by 2030 Spain will generate an average of 10,000 tonnes of waste per year, including blades and other wind turbine components made of composite materials. And that the two recycling plants in Navarre, together with the other four to be installed throughout the country, will provide up to 12,000 tonnes of indigenous resources from which industries such as the aerospace, chemical and automotive industries can benefit in order to reduce their dependence on raw materials from abroad.
Source: Noticias de Navarra