MADRID, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Repsol is set to invest more than 800 million euros ($834 million) in a planned green methanol plant in northeastern Spain, it said on Wednesday, shortly after parliament voted down extending a temporary windfall tax on large energy companies.
The so-called Ecoplant in Tarragona is scheduled to be up and running in 2029 and will be able to process up to 400,000 tons of municipal solid waste per year, transforming it into 240,000 tons of renewable fuels and circular products, the company added.
Repsol said the Ecoplant would receive financing from the EU's Innovation Fund for low-carbon technologies and cited the European Commission's estimate that it could save the equivalent of 3.4 million tons of CO2 emissions within its first decade in operation.
Major Spanish energy players like Cepsa, Iberdrola, Naturgy, Endesa and Repsol had warned that extending the levy of 1.2% for companies with a turnover of at least 1 billion euros would jeopardise 30 billion euros in renewable energy investments. The tax had been rolled over each year since Dec. 2022 but has now ended.
Last October, Repsol put investments in green hydrogen and waste-to-energy plants worth 1.5 billion euros on hold and threatened to shelve them if the windfall tax was made permanent.
Fossil fuel companies are increasingly betting on new-generation renewable fuels - such as sustainable aviation fuel made from waste cooking oil - to help meet climate goals and regulatory guidelines.
($1 = 0.9596 euros)
Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
Source: Reuters