Naturgy takes part in wind farm recycling biz in Spain

Spanish utility Naturgy Energy Group SA (BME:NTGY) has become a partner in a new company in Spain that will tackle wind farm dismantlement and component and blade recycling once the turbines reach the end of their useful life.

Naturgy teamed up with Ruralia, a holding company of Spanish cooperative banking group Caja Rural de Soria, to set up a business named GIRA Wind. The duo is joined by recycling firm Postelectrica Fabricacion and Huso 29 Renovables, which installs and maintains wind farms, Naturgy said.

GIRA Wind will build a pilot recycling plant in Almazan, a town in Spain’s region of Castile and Leon. The region is the home to the country’s largest renewable energy fleet -- 11,908 MW, with wind power representing more than half of that capacity, according to the 2021 data by Spanish grid operator Red Electrica de Espana. It will also be the first in Spain to have to address wind farm repowering, the utility said.

It is estimated that some 10 GW of wind farms in Spain will have to be dismantled between 2023 and 2028, Naturgy said citing data from Castile and Leon’s wind power association Apecyl. Since most wind farm components will no longer be accepted at landfills as of 2025, there is an opportunity for GIRA Wind to process and fully recycle them and sell reprocessed materials on the market, Naturgy added.

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