Spain’s Naturgy, Sidenor sign 10-year renewable power deal

Spanish steel group Sidenor has signed a 10-year deal to buy 350 GWh per year of renewable energy from Naturgy, the companies said March 10, the second deal of its kind agreed by a Spanish steel group.

Naturgy will directly supply energy produced by its solar and wind and solar plants for use in Sidenor’s production facilities.

According to an estimate by S&P Global Platts, the energy being supplied is the equivalent required to produce around 600,000 mt/year of steel. The companies did not disclose financial details.

Sidenor specializes in long steel products and operates four steel production units in the Basque and Cantabria regions of Spain with over 1.5 million mt/yr capacity as well as a forging unit, two bright steel units and two scrap collection and processing units.

The deal between the two is the second direct PPA announced in Spain and comes nearly two years after a previous 10-year deal announced between ArcelorMittal and Foresight for 9 GWh/yr.

Spain’s iron and steel sector is the largest single consumer of energy in the country, responsible for about one quarter of all industrial demand.

— Gianluca Baratti