After 90 million euros invested in the denitrification plants of Soto de Ribera and Aboño, EDP tains its investment effort in its thermal power plants. The company will invest 10.5 million euros in environmental improvements and modernization of group 2 of Aboño.

EDP ll allocate this investment to several projects that will also increase the efficiency and flexibility of the facility. The company is already advancing and will finish the works during the break that the group has programmed between the end of January and the beginning of March, when it will also carry out important mechanical, electrical and equipment revision works.

One of the most outstanding projects, with an investment of more than 3 million euros, consists of a new infrastructure that will allow the group to start up with natural gas, an environmental improvement that totally eliminates fuel oil.

To carry it out, EDP replace part of the current burners of the boiler with new ones that allow the burning of natural gas. In addition, the company will build a gas pipeline and an ERM (Regulation and Measurement Station), which is the infrastructure that reduces the pressure of the gas so that it can be burned in the boiler.

In addition to being a cleaner energy, natural gas involves numerous advantages in the operation and maintenance of equipment. It is a fuel more manipulable and that facilitates the start-ups of the group, because its combustion is much more stable than that of fuel oil.

EDP, which has already launched a system with similar characteristics in Soto de Ribera, is the first company to use this system in Asturias.

The other projects consist in the modernization of vital elements for the group, such as the high pressure turbine. The company will install a new rotor and stator assembly, with an investment of more than 4 million euros. This project also has a positive influence on the environmental chapter, since it will allow the same energy to be produced using 4% less coal.

It will also modernize the protection system and the hydraulic control of the main turbine, and the protection and control system of the auxiliary turbines.

On the other hand, it will carry out detailed reviews of one of the auxiliary turbines, the denitrification and desulphurisation systems, as well as auxiliary equipment.

These works represent an important challenge for the organization due to the technical, preventive and environmental complexities that the concurrence over time of a large number of tasks and people implies.

With these investments, EDP tains its commitment to coal generation to ensure the supply of electricity until alternative sources of sufficient quality and capacity are available. For this reason, it has prepared its power stations so that they can operate until 2030, thus guaranteeing a smooth energy transition.

After the implementation of these projects, EDP have invested more than 200 million euros in the last decade in environmental improvements in its generation plants in the region. This level of investment, as well as the efficiency in the operation and maintenance of the groups, make the EDP ts the most efficient and respectful of the country's environment.