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Iberdrola España and FCC open EnergyLOOP, the first wind turbine blade recycling plant on the Iberian Peninsula
- The facility will recycle components from renewable energy installations, one of the biggest medium and long-term challenges facing the industry
- With an investment of around €10M, the plant will create 100 direct and indirect jobs over the next decade
In the centre of the image, the CEO of Iberdrola España, Mario Ruiz-Tagle; the President of the Government of Navarra, María Chivite; and the CEO of FCC Enviro, Iñigo Sanz.
María Chivite, president of the Government of Navarre, the CEO of Iberdrola España, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, the CEO of FCC Enviro, Iñigo Sanz, and Mikel Irujo, regional minister of Industry and of Ecological and Digital Business Transition of the Government of Navarre, inaugurated the EnergyLOOP plant this morning in the town of Cortes, Navarre), the first specifically dedicated to the recycling of wind turbine blades on the Iberian Peninsula, which will enable the recycling of components for renewable facilities, one of the biggest medium- and long-term challenges in the industry. This plant is designed for a processing capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes a year.
The aim of the facility is to recover the components of wind turbine blades – mostly glass fibres and resins – and reuse them in industries such as energy, aerospace, automotive, textiles, chemical and construction, contributing to the energy transition and strengthening the circular economy in Spain.
The plant, which has involved an investment of around €10M, will also contribute to the creation of an innovative and dynamic value chain. EnergyLOOP currently expects to employ 100 direct and indirect employees over the course of a few decade. In this way, EnergyLOOP promotes the creation of quality green jobs by investing in local talent.
María Chivite, President of Navarre, said that ‘the green transition, competitiveness, circularity and innovation are pillars of the productive model that we in the government are pushing for. And this project connects perfectly with it. EnergyLOOP is not only a cutting-edge project but also an example of how to combine an innovative and circular industrial model with a green energy model. Technology at the service of a sustainable planet. Moreover, as you also know, this government is making an effort to decentralise industrial activity. That’s why, I’d also like to highlight the fact that Cortes, in the Ribera de Navarra region, is the place that was chosen for a cutting-edge industry’.
Mario Ruiz-Tagle, CEO of Iberdrola España said: ‘We are inaugurating much more than an industrial plant. We are inaugurating a new stage in the circular economy of renewable energies. This factory, the first on the peninsula dedicated to recycling wind turbine blades, is a focused response to a challenge that is already here. New technologies enable a sustainable energy transition and create jobs in the rural world, and the necessary repowering will be a new driver in this circular cycle’.
For Iñigo Sanz, CEO of FCC Enviro, ‘the inauguration of this EnergyLOOP plant, after several years of joint research and innovation by FCC and Iberdrola España, marks a milestone on the road to a more responsible and circular future. This plant marks the beginning of a new era, where innovation and respect for the planet go hand in hand and at FCC we will continue to move forward, facing new challenges and exploring new applications for recovered materials’. He also highlighted ‘the need to support the repowering of photovoltaic installations from the European Union and from public institutions, as well as prescribing the use of materials obtained from the recycling of blades to ensure the development of projects such as EnergyLOOP, key to the circular economy’.
The project has the support of the Government of Navarre, as it is a strategic business that positions the region at the forefront of the renewable energy industry by introducing technological innovation and circularity components and is aligned with regional smart specialisation, which is why it considered the project to be of Local Interest in 2023 and strongly supported its development.
It also received a subsidy from the Energy Savings and Diversification Institute, through the Strategic Programme for Economic Recovery and Transformation aid for Circular Repowering, which in its Programme 3 included the development of recycling plants such as EnergyLOOP, a project that has always benefited from the invaluable support of SODENA, a public company, which has shown its firm commitment to the project.
Circular economy
Spain's wind industry – as a world leader with more than 28 GW of installed capacity – will be faced before other countries with the need to recycle or reuse significant quantities of wind turbines. The first blade recycling to be managed by the plant will be from the Isabela and Molar de Molinar wind farms, the first Iberdrola España wind farms to be repowered.
An estimated 5,700 wind turbines per year will be decommissioned in Europe by 2030 from repowering wind farms or installations reaching the end of their useful life.
EnergyLOOP will contribute to the transformation of the wind industry into a truly circular economy by investing in integrated blade recycling solutions.
This initiative will also improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the industry through research and the implementation of new recycling technologies, which will make it possible to absorb the growing quantities of waste and to adopt increasingly efficient solutions.
The project will act in the different stages that enable the circularity of wind turbine blades, including on-site pre-treatment and conditioning, waste transport logistics, recycling technologies and the marketing of recycled products.
We inaugurate Spain's first wind turbine recycling plant
Grupo Iberdrola
