EDP and Corporación Masaveu have reached an agreement for the conversion to gas of the Aboño thermal power plant. The investment decision is already firm, and the converted plant will be operational by 2025. This way, EDP brings forward its aim of moving away from coal before the end of 2025, and strengthens its commitment to Asturias by extending the group’s operating calendar with the help of a regionally strong industry partner such as Corporación Masaveu, which is recovering its historical ties to the regional electricity sector, born more than a century ago when the old Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico was founded.

Both will have co-ownership (50%) of the region’s most important generation facility, which guarantees supply security for the central area of Asturias, thus strengthening its commitment to the territory. At the same time, EDP will continue with its project to build the green hydrogen Asturian valley, in which Corporación Masaveu will be able to participate with a 10%. The process is already underway and the environmental processing of this innovative project of transformation into a unique example of fair energy transition has begun. This collaboration opportunity extends to the transition projects in the other EDP thermal power plants in Spain (Los Barrios, Puente Nuevo and Soto de Ribera).

The green hydrogen Asturian valley, in Aboño, is one of Europe’s most relevant projects in this field and it has obtained the European Union’s IPCEI accreditation, in addition to being the only Spanish project to be included in the four support channels that the European Union provides for projects related to green hydrogen: Innovation Fund, IPCEI, H2 pioneers call from the Spanish recovery plan and H2 value chain call from the Spanish recovery plan.

EDP made the Aboño Thermal Power Plant into a new outfit, to which the current assets and personnel who operate the electrical facility have been incorporated. This will be the outfit from which Corporación Masaveu will take up to 50% of shares. EDP and Corporación Masaveu will ensure that the conditions of all the facility’s workers will be maintained.

The outfit at 50% between EDP and Corporación Masaveu expects co-ownership of the plant and the initial agreements of both parts regarding the closure of Aboño 1 in 2025, for which EDP has already applied for an authorization; the conversion of Aboño 2 into an already approved gas power plant, which will be operational in 2025, as well as the promotion of Aboño as a green hub.

In this same line of compliance with its Business Plan, EDP has started the transformation process of its coal plants and requested the closure of Soto 3 and Los Barrios, showcasing a unique example of fair energy transition in all its locations, with projects at an advanced stage of processing and recognition by the European Union.