- The Lecalde Joint Venture, consisting of these two companies, was selected on the basis of its technical-economic offer which included a firm commitment to maintaining local employment.
- It will take 4-6 years to dismantle the plant and this will create 82 direct jobs, with priority given to the local workforce, for which specific training courses will be organised.
Endesa signed a contract with the Lecalde Joint Venture for the demolition of the Litoral de Carboneras Thermal Power Plant in Almería. The joint venture, consisting of the Biscayan company Lezama Demoliciones, a company specialising in industrial dismantling, and Almería-based Caldererías Indálicas, was selected on the basis of its technical-economic offer which included a firm commitment to maintaining local employment.
"Endesa's commitment in this specific dismantling, as well as in the other processes of this type that we are undertaking in Spain, is to the promotion of local employment. Our aim is for the people in the area to participate and to be as well prepared as possible to do so", said Beatriz Muñiz, responsible for the dismantling undertaken by Endesa and who has valued "the role of Caldererías Indálicas, a company that was founded along with the plant and that is now still with us in this new process".
"For Caldererías Indálicas, this dismantling contract means the maintenance of jobs, training and professional adaptation to be able to access the new renewable energy projects that Endesa plans to undertake," said Luis Llamas, manager of Caldererías Indálicas.
As many as 82 people will work directly in the dismantling of the plant, with priority being given to the local workforce. In order to achieve this objective Endesa, the Town Council of Carboneras and the Regional Government of Andalusia will jointly organise training courses in the surroundings of the plant with a view to training the specialised personnel who can then be employed during demolition work.
These workers will also be joined by Endesa's own staff and those already contracted by the plant. These are workers employed by the plant itself and the contractors who will now participate in its dismantling after receiving specific training courses.
The dismantling and demolition of all the plant's buildings, installations and equipment will require an investment of 60 million euros and will be undertaken following principles of circular economy, with the aim of recovering more than 90% of the materials and ultimately obtaining a zero waste certificate.
Sustainability will be another of the axes in this phase, where the circular economy will not only be the central axis, but criteria with regard to the Creation of Shared Value will also be followed and these will enable long-term relationship to be established with local stakeholders, promoting an ethical culture that encourages the professional training of employees, the development of social environments (local contracting) and the sustainable use of natural resources. The demolition will be completed in 6 phases and large-scale heavy machinery will be used to undertake it.
Endesa is also continuing to work on the study of the projects that will be developed on the land on which the plant is located. Endesa has received 14 binding proposals submitted by 10 different promoters as part of an international tender for the Futur-e Plan, which addresses topics relating to the circular economy, aquaculture, biofuels, tourism and logistics.
To analyse the suitability of the offers submitted, an assessment committee has been created that is currently assessing their suitability with regard to the requirements for the area, their business feasibility, and their capacity for generating employment and sustainability within the municipality. The assessment committee consists of the University of Almería, the Town Council of Carboneras, the Regional Government of Andalusia, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, the Port Authority of Almería and Endesa.
As well as launching an international competition to find an industrial project to reactivate Carboneras from an economic and labour point of view, Endesa is projecting about 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy in the province of Almeria, mainly from photovoltaic sources, to replace the 1,159 megawatts of power generated by the Litoral thermal power plant. This will involve about 1,200 million euros of investment and the creation of more than 2,000 equivalent jobs during construction and about 400 jobs in the operation and maintenance phase.
The Futur-e plan is constantly open to the flexible inclusion of new initiatives and is currently also designing training courses to promote local employment in the dismantling activities for the plant, for which specialised labour is required. These courses are being organised within the framework of a collaboration agreement between the Town Council of Carboneras, the Ministry of Employment, Training and Self-Employed Workers of the Regional Government of Andalusia and Endesa. They will be structured in three professional training programmes with the participation of 400 students who will be selected by the Andalusian Employment Service, an entity attached to the Ministry.
Data with regard to the power station
The Litoral Thermal Power Plant was built within the framework of the Accelerated Plan for Coal-Fired Plants drawn up in 1979 to cover the need to increase electrical power as a result of economic development experienced in Spain. The infrastructure is located in 1,788,547 square metres in the municipality of Carboneras and consists of two generation groups generating a total of 1,159 megawatts of power. Each of these groups consists of essential equipment including a boiler, a turbine and an alternator.
Group 1, with a capacity of 577 megawatts, began commercial operations in 1985 and group 2, with a capacity of 582 megawatts, in 1997. During its useful life, the installation generated more than 180,000 GWh, that is, the energy consumption of Andalusia for 4 and a half years and became a benchmark when, in 2014, environmental improvements were made that put it at the forefront of this technology worldwide.
The plant has a Port Terminal, with access for maritime traffic in the Mediterranean and North Africa areas. Its activity began in 1985, after an investment of about 123 million euros for construction, for the purpose of unloading coal for the Litoral Thermal Power Plant.
In 2014, as a result of an agreement with the Port Authority of Almeria, investment was made to provide the Port Terminal with a system that enables ships of between 10,000 and
15,000 tons of capacity destined for other Enel group plants in the Mediterranean, which meant an increase in the fuel handling operations to be developed in the storage park.
These characteristics and its geographical location make it a unique facility for handling large draft ships coming from anywhere in the world. Since its construction, a total of 79,480,191 tons of solid bulk have been handled.
The Litoral Thermal Power Plant has also hosted innovative projects including a microalgae plant, the restoration of tips with native species and a battery storage project.
About Endesa
Endesa is the leading electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. It is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. It is an integrated business operation that encompasses everything from generation to marketing, and through Endesa X it provides added value services aimed at decarbonising the energy used in homes, companies, industries and government agencies. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and as a result decisively promotes the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power Spain, the electrification of the economy and Corporate Social Responsibility. We also work in the latter area through the Endesa Foundation. We have around 10,000 employees. Endesa is part of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.