2023-09-11 04:00:29
The energy transition is also promoting an industrial transition in Asturias. Companies in the region that are dedicated to the manufacturing of components for renewable energies will reverse two of the most notorious industrial closures registered in Asturias in recent years. The first operation was launched by the solar panel company Exiom, which has teamed up with the energy company Iberdrola to manufacture photovoltaic modules in the plant that the British multinational refractory products company Vesuvius had closed in Riaño, in Langreo, and is now the company of Windar wind energy components, which has taken a very important step to take over the Alu Ibérica warehouses, the former factory of the aluminum multinational Alcoa in San Balandrán, in the Avilés estuary.
The bankruptcy administrator of Alu Ibérica has awarded Windar Renovables – belonging to the Aviles group Daniel Alonso – the assets of the former Alcoa aluminum plant for 20 million euros. At the facilities, Windar intends to expand its component manufacturing business for the production of offshore wind energy, in which it is a global leader.
«This decision is relevant for two reasons. Firstly, because it will allow for a definitive resolution of the consequences of the closure of the old Alcoa plant, announced by this company in October 2018 and, secondly, because it will allow for the generation of new jobs and recovery. of industrial activity in the Avilés region,” said Nieves Roqueñí, Minister of Ecological Transition, Industry and Economic Development, who highlighted that the project led by Windar Renovables “fits perfectly into the strategic priorities of the Government of Asturias in the field of transition ecological and industrial.
It is not the first time that renewables have reversed an industrial closure in Asturias. In February of this year, the Asturian solar panel manufacturing company Exiom announced an alliance with the Spanish energy multinational Iberdrola to build a photovoltaic solar panel manufacturing plant in Langreo. This is an investment of 20 million euros that includes the generation of 115 new jobs. To locate the plant, Exiom and Iberdrola have decided to refurbish the old Vesuvius facilities in the Riaño industrial estate, in Langreo. The British multinational Vesuvius decided in 2019 to close its Asturian factory of refractory products for the metallurgical industry, where 111 workers worked, and since then the facilities have been unused.
At the beginning of summer, the Exiom and Iberdrola alliance began refurbishing the old Vesuvius factory and is scheduled to begin manufacturing solar panels before the end of this year. Its promoters highlight that it will be the first large manufacturing plant for photovoltaic modules in Spain and one of the first on an industrial scale in Europe, and that it will contribute to the economic reactivation of the mining regions.
Both the closure of the British multinational Vesuvius in Langreo and that of the American multinational Alcoa in Avilés generated a great commotion in both territories and a strong movement of rejection. Now, two Asturian companies from the new renewable energy sector will bring the factories out of the dark and fill them with activity again.
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