SABIC chemical plant in Spain to operate on 100% renewable energy

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) signed an agreement Iberdrola, one of the world’s biggest electricity utility companies, to convert its polycarbonate facility in Cartagena, Spain, to be run entirely on renewable power.

Under the 25-year deal, Iberdrola will invest almost €70 million (SAR 308 million) to construct a 100MW solar PV facility with 263,000 panels, on land owned by SABIC, making it the largest industrial renewable power plant in Europe, the petrochemicals major said in a statement on Wednesday.

The plant is expected to be fully operational in 2024.

SABIC’s aims to have 4GW of either wind or solar energy installed for its sites globally by 2025, rising to 12GW by 2030.

Bob Maughon, EVP Sustainability, Technology & Innovation and CTO and CSO at SABIC, said that partnerships of this kind are the cornerstone of the company’s business growth model and increase ability to meet the demands of customers for more sustainable solutions.

“The new PV plant will deliver an 80 kilotons annual reduction in indirect CO2 emissions, and furthers strengthens our support and contribution to wider climate change initiatives such as EU 2030,” he noted.

Meanwhile, plans are also underway to install PV technology at SABIC’s global HQ in Riyadh, and a final-stage feasibility study with Marafiq and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu is underway to explore a $300 million (SAR 1.13 billion), 300-megawatt solar array project on the western coast of Saudi Arabia, the statement noted.

Once complete, SABIC will take the electricity generated by the plant and deliver it to local chemicals manufacturing plants.