Naturgy has started up its second photovoltaic plant in the Canary Islands and the first in Fuerteventura, in the town of Puerto del Rosario, with a capacity of 11.5 MW. The new facility will produce 21.65 GWh/year, equivalent to the annual consumption of 6,600 homes, helping to reduce annual CO2 emissions by more than 15,600 tonnes and accelerating the energy transition in the Canary Islands.
The project, which has required an investment of 9.7 million euros and will create a total of more than 80 direct and indirect jobs over the construction, operation and maintenance phases, takes the company’s operational renewable energy capacity in the archipelago to over 110 MW, and a further 35 MW are currently under construction. With this increase, Naturgy will have an operational capacity of almost 145 MW by the end of this year.
Puerto del Rosario is Naturgy’s third project on the island of Fuerteventura and the first photovoltaic plant, following in the footsteps of the Fuerteventura Renovable II wind farm, which was started up in 2018 with a capacity of 4.7 MW and a production of 14 GWh per year, and the Puerto del Rosario wind farm, which was started up in June 2021 with a capacity of more than 29 MW and an annual production of 105 GWh.
Moreover, this is Naturgy’s second photovoltaic farm in the Canary Islands following the start-up of of Salinetas in October 2023 in the municipality of Telde (Gran Canaria), with an installed capacity of 4.2 MW and an annual production of 7.2 GWh. Besides these two photovoltaic farms, Naturgy has 12 wind farms in the archipelago, with a total installed capacity of 94.8 MW.
The new solar farm is the second outcome of the first photovoltaic capacity auction financed by ERDF funds (SolCan), with a capacity of 44 MW, where Naturgy emerged as the top bidder. Additionally, in the second wind capacity auction, also funded by ERDF (EolCan2), Naturgy secured the second-largest allocation with an additional 20 MW of capacity.
Commitment to Energy Transition
Naturgy is working to boost its role in the energy transition and decarbonisation. The company has an operational renewable capacity of almost 6.5 GW around the globe and expects to have an installed capacity of around 8 GW in operation by the end of 2024, in addition to a number of projects totalling almost 20 GW in the pipeline, mainly located in Spain, Australia and the USA.
Naturgy has undertaken to construct more than 20 wind farms and photovoltaic plants in Spain, with an additional 1.6 GW of renewable capacity, that are expected to come into operation between 2024 and 2025.
Investments in renewable energies over the last few years confirm the company’s strategic shift towards a more sustainable energy mix and its commitment to the energy transition. All this without ignoring the fundamental objectives of value creation and growth for each of its businesses, or the ESG goals.