Ence has as axes of its energy strategy growth in biomass energy generation and diversification towards other renewable energies, such as solar thermal, photovoltaic and their hybridizations. The company is committed to collaborating significantly in the evolution of the national energy model towards a sustainable, decarbonised and stable electricity supply system.
Currently, biomass is one of the alternatives to fossil fuels due to the multiple social and environmental advantages that it brings. It is, in the same way, the only manageable technology, along with hydraulics, capable of producing energy with renewable resources, guaranteeing the stability of the electricity supply by not depending on meteorological factors.
In the environmental section, Ence’s biomass plants have been developed, since their design, with the Best Available Techniques (BAT) and are in continuous innovation with a significant annual investment effort. The technology to produce electricity with biomass achieves significant reductions in CO2 emissions compared to generation with fossil fuels
Likewise, it achieves results in other atmospheric parameters, such as particles or SO2, which are also significantly lower than other technologies. These are also industrial production processes in which practically all of the by-products are sent for recovery in other uses and processes, remaining within a cycle of circular economy.
In addition to these environmental advantages, agricultural or forestry biomass is a renewable, local and especially abundant resource in Spain. The biomass that Ence uses in its process is produced as a result of agricultural and forestry activities, which are very important sectors for economic revitalization and employment in rural areas. Thus, it collaborates in reversing the depopulation, fixing the population in the “Empty Spain”, avoiding uncontrolled burning and reducing the risk of fire.
Generating electricity with biomass reduces national dependence on fossil fuels, which are more expensive and have a greater environmental impact. It is, therefore, an important technology to achieve the necessary decarbonisation of the Spanish energy model, and key to ensuring that this transition is fair thanks to the social advantages that its development implies.
Convinced of providing society with an essential service and collaborating in meeting the national challenges in the 2030 Agenda, Ence generates renewable electricity in nine plants: three in Huelva, three in the province of Ciudad Real, one in Córdoba, one in Mérida and one in Jaén. They are electricity generation plants that feed on biomass of agroforestry origin, and in the case of one of the Puertollano plants, solar energy. In total, 316 MW of renewable energy generation to which the 112 MW of cogeneration are also added, with biomass derived from the pulp production process at its biofactories in Navia and Pontevedra.
