Endesa Brings 860MW As Pontes Combined-Cycle Plant on Stream

Spanish utility Endesa has announced that its new 860MW As Pontes de Garcia Rodriguez gas-fired combined-cycle power plant has come on stream in Spain. The total investment in the plant is around E367 million.

Endesa has said that the As Pontes, which houses the new 860MW plant, has become an important generation complex in Spain, with coal, gas, wind, hydro and thermal capacities. The opening of the new plant also boosts the company’s installed gas capacity in mainland Spain by more than 50%.

The new plant is located beside a 1,400MW coal-fired plant with which it shares some infrastructure, facilitating the implementation of the project and minimizing its environmental impact.

The new As Pontes plant is fed by a regasification plant situated in the Ferrol Ria, to which it is linked by a 30km gas pipeline. Endesa has a contract with this terminal for an annual capacity 0.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The plant is owned by Reganosa, a company in which Endesa is the largest partner and which is made viable by the new combined-cycle power plant.

Endesa has stated that although the main fuel is natural gas, the plant can also use gas oil in emergencies. In addition to this feature, it is also reportedly the first non-monoaxle combined-cycle plant in mainland Spain and Portugal.