File image of the visit of president Buruaga to Solvay.

The Ministry of Industry, Employment, Innovation and Commerce has published in the Official Bulletin of Cantabria (BOC) of December 5 the resolution granting administrative authorisation for the 49.99 megawatt biomass cogeneration plant and its evacuation facilities within the Solvay Química industrial complex in Torrelavega.

With this, Meridiem Silvae, S.L.U. now has the necessary access and connection permits, issued an environmental impact statement, environmental approval and administrative authorisation for the new cogeneration plant of the Solvay factory between Torrelavega and Polanco.

The new plant will supply energy to the facilities of the chemical company as part of the strategy of industrial decarbonisation in Cantabria, replacing its coal-fired boilers with biomass boilers with cogeneration to produce electricity and steam for the factory, which will be designed, built and operated by Meridiem Silvae, S.L.U.

The company estimates it will generate 49.99 megawatts of electricity, guaranteeing the supply of thermal energy to factory production, while covering the energy needs of the biomass plant itself and feeding the surplus produced into the electrical grid.

In this way, the generation system will be connected to the distribution network and a new substation will be built linking the Viesgo distribution network with the Solvay facility and the planned cogeneration plant.

Solvay itself will supply of the different types of water (raw water, demineralised water and condensate return) the plant will require.

The minister, Eduardo Arasti, has positively valued this new administrative step taken by the Government of Cantabria to facilitate the company’s industrial reconversion process through the diversification of energy sources. The results will position Cantabria and Torrelavega as “a reference in sustainability, in the creation of quality employment and contribute to making Cantabria a magnet for investment, economic activity and employment”.

As he explained, “this is a new administrative step by the Government of Cantabria and is the result of the effort and dedication of the working group led by the Ministry of Industry, hand in hand with the company, to provide Cantabria with the largest cogeneration plant in Spain that will reduce coal consumption by 60% and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 326 million tons a year.”

PARTNERSHIP WITH COMPANIES

“Our commitment is to work with companies in developing their businesses in Cantabria and the Government of Cantabria is going to be there, promoting, facilitating and accelerating their energy transition processes as much as possible because we are seeing that this is a train we must catch if we want to remain competitive in a globalised and changing world,” stressed Arasti, who was confident that the biomass cogeneration project “is a large-scale and long-term project that Cantabria needs”.

With the concession of the administrative authorisation, Meridiem Silvae, S.L.U. has a period of six months to apply for the construction permits, to be submitted to the General Directorate of Industry, Energy and Mines, for the execution of the cogeneration plant, which will occupy an area of 3,255 square metres and will involve an investment of 250 million euros.

The new plant will achieve a reduction of 320,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year through a decarbonisation project requiring an investment of 150 million euros. This is in addition to a carbon dioxide capture project, with an investment of 100 million euros, to capture 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

According to Arasti, this project “will ensure the future of the Barreda plant and enable other industrial projects capable of generating joint synergies”.