María Chivite, President of the Government of Navarre, CEO of Iberdrola Spain Mario Ruiz-Tagle, CEO of FCC Enviro Iñigo Sanz, and Mikel Irujo, Minister of Industry and Ecological and Digital Transition of the Government of Navarre, inaugurated this morning the EnergyLOOP plant in Cortes (Navarre), the first plant on the Iberian Peninsula dedicated specifically to recycling wind turbine blades. This will enable the recycling of components from renewable energy installations, one of the sector's biggest challenges in the medium and long term. The plant is designed to process up to 10,000 tonnes per year.

The aim of the facility is to recover the components of wind turbine blades, mostly glass fibres and resins, and reuse them in sectors such as energy, aerospace, automotive, textiles, chemicals and construction, thereby contributing to the energy transition and promoting the circular economy in Spain.

The plant, which has received an investment of around €10 million, will also contribute to the creation of an innovative and dynamic value chain. EnergyLOOP currently expects to reach 100 direct and indirect employees over the course of the decade. In this way, EnergyLOOP is promoting the creation of high-quality green jobs by investing in local talent.

María Chivite, President of Navarre, said that "the green transition, competitiveness, circularity and innovation are pillars of the production model that we are promoting from the government. And this project is perfectly in line with that. EnergyLOOP is not only a cutting-edge project but also an example of how to combine an innovative and circular industrial model with a green energy model. Technology at the service of a sustainable planet. Furthermore, as you also know, this government is making an effort to decentralise industrial activity. That is why I would also like to highlight the fact that Cortes, located in Navarre’s riverbank, is the location chosen for a cutting-edge industry.‘

Mario Ruiz-Tagle, CEO of Iberdrola Spain, said that ’We are inaugurating much more than an industrial plant. We are inaugurating a new stage in the circular economy of renewable energies. This factory, the first on the peninsula dedicated to recycling wind turbine blades, is a concrete response to a challenge that is already here. New technologies enable a sustainable energy transition and generate employment in rural areas, and the necessary repowering will be a new driver for this circular cycle."

For Iñigo Sanz, CEO of FCC Enviro, "the opening of this EnergyLOOP plant, after several years of joint research and innovation by FCC and Iberdrola, marks a milestone on the road to a more responsible and circular future. This plant marks the beginning of a new era, where innovation and respect for the planet go hand in hand, and at FCC we will continue to move forward, facing new challenges and exploring new applications for recovered materials." He also highlighted ‘the need for the European Union and public institutions to support the repowering of photovoltaic installations and to prescribe the use of materials obtained from recycling blades to ensure the development of projects such as EnergyLOOP, which are key to the circular economy.’

The project has the support of the Government of Navarre, as it is a strategic activity that positions the region at the forefront of the renewable energy sector by introducing technological innovation and circularity components and is aligned with regional smart specialisation. For this reason, it considered the project to be of regional interest in 2023 and strongly supported its development.

Furthermore, it received a grant from the IDAE, through the PERTE Circular Repowering funds, which in its Programme 3 included the development of recycling plants such as EnergyLOOP, a project that has always had the invaluable support of Sodena, public company that has demonstrated a strong commitment to it.

Circular economy

The Spanish wind industry, as a world leader with over 28 GW of installed capacity, will face the need to recycle or reuse significant quantities of wind turbines before other countries. The first blade recycling operations to be managed by the plant will be from Iberdrola's Isabela and Molar de Molinar wind farms, the energy company's first farms to be repowered.

It is estimated that in Europe, around 5,700 wind turbines will be decommissioned each year by 2030, either due to the repowering of wind farms or because they have reached the end of their useful life.

In this context, EnergyLOOP will contribute to the transformation of the wind sector into a true circular economy through investment in comprehensive blade recycling solutions.

This initiative will also improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector through research and the implementation of new recycling technologies, which will enable the absorption of growing amounts of waste and the adoption of increasingly efficient solutions.

The project will act at the different stages that enable the circularity of wind turbine blades, including pre-treatment and conditioning on site, waste transport logistics, recycling technologies and the marketing of recycled products.

EnergyLOOP is a company promoted by Iberdrola, through its PERSEO programme, and by FCC Ámbito, subsidiary of FCC Enviro, for the recovery of wind turbine blade components and their reuse in sectors such as energy, aerospace, automotive, textile, chemical and construction.