- Nearly 300 people participated in the construction of this plant, 22% from the local workforce that was able to do the work as a result of training courses organised by Endesa.
The mayor of Huelva, Gabriel Cruz, today visited the San Antonio solar plant that Endesa, through its renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power España (EGPE), has opened in the city of Huelva. The mayor visited the premises accompanied by the General Manager of Endesa in Andalusia, Extremadura, Ceuta and Melilla, Rafael Sánchez Durán, the EGPE project manager, Giuseppe Matisi, and was told that the material used during the construction will be donated to the city of Huelva. This is Endesa's the first renewable power plant that Endesa has opened in the city.
"Endesa is firmly committed to the decarbonisation of the energy mix; for this reason, we are making an effort to develop new renewable capacity in Andalusia, a land rich in sun", said Rafael Sánchez Durán, who highlighted "the importance of undertaking this type of work while taking local communities into account at all times. It is not only a matter of building new renewable capacity, but of doing it so that it belongs to everyone, which is why we are going to donate part of the material used in the construction so that it has a second life" he concluded.
"There are no objectives without projects and no projects without people," said Giuseppe Matisi, who stressed that "San Antonio is the result of successful collaboration between public and private entities that made it possible to complete the construction of the plant at a very complicated time worldwide due to COVID-19 and logistical difficulties. This plant was connected on 22 December 2021, when it generated the first kWh of a planned annual total of 49.28 GWh," he concluded.
"I would like to thank Endesa and EGPE for their generosity in terms of the transfer of the donated elements from this plant, including a water tank, a defibrillator and a self-consumption kit," said the mayor of Huelva, pointing out that this is how "energy transition is combined with clean energy, employment and compatibility with the environment, in short, progress for Huelva", he concluded.
The construction of this project was based on Enel Green Power España's "Sustainable Construction Site" model, in which a kit of self-consumption panels, 4 x 2,000 litre water storage tanks and a defibrillator were used to meet requirements during the work. After the completion of this activity in the solar plant the material will be delivered to the City Council so they will have a new useful life in the Urban Habitat and Infrastructures Department, in the Municipal Centre for the Reception of Stray Animals and in the Citizen Participation and Sports Area in a municipal sports facility. To reduce the visual impact of the plant for the neighbours, a green barrier is being installed in the area surrounding the plant with irrigation installed by a local company from Huelva.
Work on the San Antonio solar plant, which has an installed capacity of 30.44 MW, employed about 300 people for its construction, 22% of which was local labour. To provide training for employees in the area, in 2020 the company organised a training course on the assembly of photovoltaic panels for 26 people, all of whom were from the city of Huelva and they were unemployed.
Endesa's new infrastructure in which they have invested €18 million will produce 49 GWh per year, that is, the annual energy consumption for the towns of Almonte and Gibraleón together. This renewable capacity responds to Endesa's strategy to fully decarbonise its generation mix by 2040, a process for which Endesa is already preparing with a multi-million euro investment over the next 10 years.
About Endesa
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in Spain. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribution and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, Europe’s largest electricity group.