Investment made in LatemAluminium by Iberdrola to boost green industry in Spain
- The energy company, which becomes one of the main shareholders with a 20% stake, will accompany Latem in a pioneering large-scale aluminium recycling project.
- The investment of this initiative will reach €120M until 2024 and will generate 800 jobs by 2026, more than 300 direct jobs.
- The two companies will also collaborate on the decarbonisation of recycled aluminium production through renewable electricity and green hydrogen.
- Progress is being made on an agreement for the green aluminium produced at the Villabrázaro -Zamora- and Villadangos -León- factories to be used, among other uses, for the manufacture of solar panels at the plant that Iberdrola is building in Asturias.
- This investment is channelled through Iberdrola's startup programme, Perseo
External link, opens in new window. , which has already allocated more than €125 million to support the best entrepreneurs and industrial businesses worldwide that contribute to accelerating the decarbonisation and electrification of the economy.
The executive president of LatemAluminium, Macario Fernández, the CEO of Iberdrola Spain, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, and the deputy minister of Economy and Competitiveness of the Junta de Castilla y León, Carlos Martín Tobalina, formalized the alliance this morning.
Iberdrola España and LatemAluminiumExternal link, opens in new window. announced this morning that the energy company has become one of the main shareholders of the company, a national and international benchmark in the supply of recycled aluminium alloys.
With a 20% stake, it will accompany Latem in a pioneering large-scale aluminium recycling project that will reach an investment of €120 million by 2024 and help create 800 jobs by 2026, 300 of them direct.
Iberdrola España's investment in this initiative, backed by the Regional Government of Castile and León and declared a Priority Industrial Project, reaffirms its commitment to innovation as the driving force behind green industry in Spain.
LatemAluminium's project is based on the circular economy of aluminium and the use of the most modern technologies to produce 30,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium at its factories in Villabrázaro -Zamora- and Villadangos -León-. The process ranges from the transformation of scrap into aluminium ingots and liquid aluminium to the transformation into rolled aluminium coils and their subsequent marketing.
The new factory in Villabrázaro occupies a 55,000 square metre building and will use only recycled aluminium, the majority of which comes from the Villandangos factory. The first operational tests of the factory will be carried out in the last quarter of the year, with the aim that the first aluminium coil from the official start-up of the factory will see the light of day in the first quarter of 2024.
With this alliance, both companies ratify their rural commitment and their commitment to sustainability. It is clear to them that their investments to promote sustainable projects in a rural environment can be the best ally for a greener world: they create jobs, contribute to the development of other companies and businesses in the area, and encourage repopulation.
This investment is channelled through Iberdrola's startup programme, Perseo, which has already allocated more than €125 million to support the best entrepreneurs and industrial businesses worldwide that contribute to accelerating the decarbonisation and electrification of the economy.
Towards the decarbonisation of the planet
Iberdrola España also becomes Latem's energy partner with the aim of decarbonising all green aluminium production processes with renewable electricity and green hydrogen.External link, opens in new window.
Both companies are also making progress on an agreement with EXIOM Solar Ibérica to explore the possibility of supplying green recycled aluminium from Latem's Zamora and Leon plants for the frames of the solar panels to be manufactured at the photovoltaic panel External link, opens in new window. production plant that Iberdrola is building in Langreo (Asturias).
The aluminium sector is an energy-intensive industry that consumes 1,300 TWh of energy per year and is responsible for 2% of global emissions. Key to its decarbonisationExternal link, opens in new window. is the growth of recycled/secondary aluminium production such as the one Latem is going to carry out in this pioneering project.
Aluminium is 100% and infinitely recyclable and today only 7 out of 10 tonnes in use are recovered, hence the importance of this initiative that promotes recycling and the circular economy as a key element for sustainable development and an opportunity as a driver for climate action and energy transition.External link, opens in new window.