IBERDROLA has awarded to Alva, a company from Castellón, the supply and assembly of equipment for the Castellón 4 combined cycle plant, with 850 megawatts (MW) of power, in the amount of approximately €1.1 million.

This company, which has its headquarters in El Grao de Castellón and which beat the bids submitted by five other firms, will supply and install six tanks at IBERDROLA’s new gas plant: two for demineralised water, one for potable water, one for condensates, another for storing diesel and one more for receiving diesel.

The Castellón 4 combined cycle, which will be located next to the first combined cycle plant that IBERDROLA commissioned in Spain in mid 2002, will be the company’s tenth one with these characteristics in our country, and it is anticipated that it will start operating at the end of 2007.

IBERDROLA, which has successfully reached its installed power objective (4000 MW) in the 2002-2006 Strategic Plan one year ahead of schedule, has continued to meet its combined cycle construction schedule in Spain during 2006.

Thus, the company ended last year with 4800 MW of managed power through combined cycle plants in Spain: Castellón, 800 MW; Castejón, 400 MW; BBE, 800 MW; Tarragona, 400 MW; Santurce, 400 MW; Aceca, 400 MW; and Groups I, II and III of Arcos de la Frontera (1600 MW). This year it will reach 5600 MW of power by incorporating the Escombreras plant (800 MW), which has been in the testing phase since the month of July, and in 2007 it will exceed 6400 MW with the commissioning of Castellón 4 (850 MW).

It should be highlighted that IBERDROLA’s combined cycle generation in Spain has grown by 18.1% throughout the first half of the year, up to 7,379 kWh, which represents 22.5% of the company’s total production in our country, more than coal and fuel oil plants combined.

Commitment to the environment and sustainable development

The commissioning of this installation represents a new example of IBERDROLA’s commitment to the environment and sustainable development. Combined cycle plants must meet the most demanding environmental requirements of Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants. The combined cycles currently in operation not only comply with the requirements established by the legislation, they also exceed them.

Thus, and thanks to the use of natural gas as a fuel, one combined cycle produces one third the CO2 (carbon dioxide) of what a coal plant emits and 10 times less NOx (nitrogen oxide), and it emits no SO2 (sulphur dioxide) and no particles.

Moreover, these types of plants are outstanding due to their greater efficiency, given that once the gas is consumed for producing electricity, the derived heat is used to generate even more energy. There is a dual process, which translates into lower generating costs because the efficiency is close to 60% compared to a conventional thermal plant, which doesn’t even reach 35%.

IBERDROLA’s venture on clean energies is framed within the company’s commitment to sustainable development and to the Kyoto Protocol. The company has continued to reduce its CO2 emissions in Spain throughout 2006, given that it emitted 189 gr./kWh in the first half of the year versus 231 gr./kWh during the same period of the previous year. Its emissions-free production in our country between January and June reached 64.8%.