Endesa, Sentury Tire strike energy transition deal in Spain

Spanish utility Endesa SA (BME:ELE) on Friday said that it has signed an agreement with Chinese tire maker Qingdao Sentury Tire Co Ltd (SHE:002984) encompassing land transfer for a smart tire factory in northern Spain and the supply of wind energy.

The outline of the agreement was first presented by Endesa earlier this week when it received a notice from the Spanish government that it would be able to close only one half of its As Pontes coal-fired power plant in the region of Galicia. Despite the delayed coal exit, the utility has already started making firm plans for the As Pontes area to avoid leaving it jobless once the power plant is closed for good.

Under one of the arrangements, Endesa will transfer 26 hectares (64.2 acres) of land in the plant’s area to Sentury Tire, which will build a modern EUR-477-million (USD 465.4m) tire factory there and create 750 direct jobs. The factory will be powered by 191 MW of wind farms that Endesa’s renewables unit Enel Green Power Espana will build in the vicinity, the utility said.

Investments in the wind projects will total EUR 229 million.

According to Endesa, it will take around 36 months to build the tire factory. The company did not say when its wind farms would be ready.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 0.976)

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