EIB and Naturgy to invest €1bn in Spanish renewables projects
Pamela Largue
Posted on: 2 December 2024
EIB and Naturgy have agreed a €1 billion loan to support investments in new solar energy and onshore wind power stations in Spain.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Spanish utility Naturgy have agreed a €1 billion ($1.05 billion) loan to support investments in new solar energy and onshore wind power stations in Spain.
A €400 million ($420 million) initial tranche of the loan will be used to modernise and convert existing sites into hybrid facilities, as well as for investments in batteries for renewable energy storage.
This investment will increase renewable energy generation capacity in Spain by 2.3GW, according to EIB.
EIB director general and head of EU Lending and Advisory Jean-Christophe Laloux, commented in a statement: “This important financing agreement with Naturgy reflects the EIB's strong commitment to supporting Europe’s energy transition. When complete, this project should generate enough green electricity to power more than 1 million homes, contributing also to our energy security and strategic autonomy.”
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Executive chairman of Naturgy Francisco Reynés added: “I would like to highlight the work done by Naturgy's finance team led by Steven Fernández to reach this agreement. The implementation of these investments will also enable the creation of thousands of jobs in what is known as ‘empty Spain’, which will result in greater territorial cohesion in Spain”.
It is expected that the project will create 4200 jobs during the implementation phase.
In 2023, the EIB Group allocated €4.513 billion ($4.8 billion) to the goal of energy security in Spain, financing projects in areas including renewable energy, energy efficiency, power grids and storage systems.
Naturgy is present in more than 24 countries, supplies gas and electricity to nearly 16 million customers, reaching market shares of gas and electricity contracts in Spain of 44.3% and 14.6% respectively. The company has an installed capacity of nearly 18GW and a diversified mix of electricity generation.
