EDP accelerates the energy transition. The company, which aims to be 100% green by 2030, has announced the first floating wind farm in Spain for Asturias and is promoting projects linked to green hydrogen and energy storage in the Principality. These are EDP's plans for the autonomous region, where it wants to make a decisive contribution to boosting 100% renewable energy generation and favouring industrial decarbonisation.

The plans of the company, which has its main centre for the whole of Spain in Asturias, have been presented to the President of the Government of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, by the heads of the energy company in Spain, its Chairman, Manuel Menéndez, and its CEO, Rui Teixeira.

The company's executives presented EDP's commitment to the region to the Asturian president, where it has been developing its activity for 20 years, boosting the economy and generating quality employment. Now, in the midst of the energy transition, the company wants to reinforce its leadership with ambitious projects linked to this transition, associated with millionaire investments in which the support of the administration is key.

EDP has ambitious energy transformation plans for Asturias, where it could develop projects worth 470 million euros, mainly at its Soto de Ribera and Aboño sites, as well as the first floating wind farm in Spain.

Soto de Ribera, the green battery of Asturias

EDP's plans for Soto de Ribera, for whose group 3 has already requested authorisation for closure, also involve renewable energies. The company could turn this site into a reference centre for renewable energy storage and new uses for green hydrogen.

As far as renewable generation is concerned, EDP has already begun processing a mini-hydro plant with hydro-screws that would take advantage of the waters of the Nalón river as it passes through the plant. This installation will be added to a photovoltaic park that the company plans to start up on the site.

The renewable energy generated by both facilities would be fed into the grid to meet demand, would allow green hydrogen to be produced and stored, and the surplus would be stored in two types of batteries: lithium-ion batteries and a combination of RedOx and second-life batteries (e.g. vehicle batteries).

EDP is also working on various other liquid air storage projects to generate electricity.

As regards new uses for green hydrogen, the company is planning different projects. It plans to build a hydrogen plant - a hydrogen filling station - with the aim of contributing to the decarbonisation of passenger and goods transport; it will promote the decarbonisation of surrounding industries; and it will conduct tests on combined cycle plants in a scenario that would facilitate the substitution of the natural gas currently used by green hydrogen.

Aboño, valley of green hydrogen

For almost 50 years, the Aboño thermal power station has been a guarantee for the stability of the electricity supply to Asturian industry. EDP plans to maintain this leading role in the energy transition.

The company, which has announced that it will stop producing with coal in 2025, plans to convert this strategic site into the Asturian valley of green hydrogen. The technical and market knowledge and the privileged geographical location of the facility would guarantee the production and supply of the electricity and green hydrogen necessary for the Asturian industry in its manufacturing processes.

EDP is contemplating the commissioning of a photovoltaic farm at the current Aboño facilities, which, together with the floating offshore wind farm that the company is planning on the Asturian coast and easy access to water, electricity infrastructures and the port of El Musel, will enable the necessary production and storage of green hydrogen at Aboño.

This green hydrogen could also replace the fossil fuels currently used to support the energy use of steel gases, a waste that would otherwise be burned in a flares and emitted directly into the atmosphere. Green hydrogen would maintain this condition of circular economy and energy revalorisation.