EDP will bring forward the closure of carbon plants in the Iberian Peninsula and is already working on the closure’s request. In the case of Sines plant, EDP has already given the General Direction of Energy and Geology its declaration of renunciation to the production license, so that it can end its activity in January 2021.

In the case of the plants in Spain, it will request the closure of Soto 3 in the coming dates. In the case of Aboño 1, the company continues its transformation process for steel gas flaring for 2022 and Aboño 2 will be kept as a support to any unavailability.

This decision - part of the EDP Group's decarbonization strategy - is taken in a context where energy production is increasingly dependent on renewable sources. Furthermore, with the constant increase of the production costs in carbon, the greater competitivity of natural gas price, and the combined-cycled power plants, the viability perspectives of carbon plants have decreased drastically.

Soto 3 has not produced energy in more than a year, and Sines Central, with 1180 MW of power, is shut down since January 25, after a year in which electric energy generation with carbon fell to historic low levels.

In this same location of Sines, EDP is validating the development of a green hydrogen production project, in consortium with other companies. The project is included in the European plan of common interest and with an export potential by sea. This alternative to produce a clean energy resource may represent a new cycle for the region and for the Portuguese economy.

EDP will also request the closure of the group 3 of the Plant of Soto de Rubera (with a power of 346 MW). In this location, EDP is validating projects with the goal of developing an innovative project of energy storage.

For Aboño’s plant, EDP, as announced in December last year, has already requested a license for the transformation of its group 1 (342 MW of power) and a plant that only uses siderurgical gases from 2022. Aboño 2 will be kept as a support to any unavailability, contributing thus to a more circular economy. This is the first fair transition project developed in a carbon central in Spain. The changes in Aboño’s and Soto’s plants will not entail the lost of employment.

EDP continues validating and promoting projects aligned with energy transition in all regions where it had production plants with carbon. These potential funds may still be included in the fund for Fair Transition, aiming to help regions to restructure their economy, to take of the environment and to promote economy activity. Therefore, EDP also expects to keep contributing to economy’s decarbonization, in line with the energy transition strategy that is leading, being anticipated more than a decade ago.

“EDP keeps a leader position in energy transition, with a strategy focused in decarbonization and with sustainable growth in renewable energies. With the acceleration of this process, especially this last year, we attend to an inevitable reduction of profitability prospects of carbon plants, and to the lost of competitivity in that market. In this scenario, EDP reinforces with the high investments in wind and solar energy, defined in the strategy plan. We are on the right path to accomplish our sustainability goals by 2030: having 90% of the production with renewable energy origin and reducing by 90% of specific emission with regard to 2005. The decision of bringing the closure of carbon plants forward, comes from the low gas prices and the high CO2 prices, as well as from the strategy focused on renewable energies, and aligned with the European goals of carbon neutrality, apart form the political will of bringing these timelines forward. Moreover, this decision contributes to strengthen EDP’s leadership in renewable energies among the European electricity companies”, highlighted Miguel Stilwell de Andrade, managing director of EDP.