18 November 2020

Endesa, within its energy transition and decarbonisation strategy with a firm commitment to reducing emissions, has presented a project for the development of energy bunkering (supply to vessels of liquefied natural gas, LNG) for maritime transport at its port terminal in Los Barrios, in the Bay of Algeciras (Cádiz). To do this, it has planned an initial investment of around 15.6 million euros, which after a detailed study and the incorporation of the latest technology on the market, will rise to more than 30 million euros for the adaptation of the facilities before 2023. After receiving authorization to extend the concession term of the current facility, by the Port Authority of Bahía de Algeciras, the new terminal will reach a storage capacity of around 4,080 cubic meters and a volume of managed energy 1,100 GWh per year. With this capacity, the Cadiz terminal would become the Spain's main LNG bunkering port station.

• With the introduction of the new environmental regulations for maritime transport, Endesa presents a project with an initial investment of 15.6 million euros until 2022, for the adaptation of its port terminal in Los Barrios, in Algeciras, which allows it to carry out bunkering, the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to ships.
• The project contemplates, after a detailed study including the new technologies on the market, a second phase that will lead to an investment of more than 30 million euros, and will allow reaching a storage capacity of around 4,080 cubic meters and a volume of energy managed per year in the 1,100 GWh facility.
• The Endesa de Los Barrios terminal, in the Bay of Algeciras, which has just received the green light for its concession extension by the Bay of Algeciras Port Authority, will be the largest LNG bunkering terminal in Spain.

... “the strategic location of our terminal offers a possibility of growth and diversification towards new lines of business, such as LNG bunkering, which fit and allow us to advance in our decarbonization strategy by betting on activities that entail a emission reduction”.

The General Director of Energy Management of Endesa, Juan María Moreno

For his part, the president of the APBA, Gerardo Landaluce, highlighted the value of this important investment by Endesa in the region for being "a commitment to sustainability and alternative energies that will allow the Port of Algeciras to join in the sector's commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of maritime transport and meeting the objectives of the 2030 Agenda ”.  

Every year around 120,000 ships cross the Strait of Gibraltar, of which 30,000 call or anchor in the Bay of Algeciras, so the location of the Endesa terminal is a key location after the new transport regulations come into force. maritime in 2020, which has meant a change in the environmental paradigm in terms of fuel consumption. The new framework sets the reduction of the percentage of sulfur in fuel oil for maritime transport at 0.5%, so that the propulsion with LNG of the ships becomes the best alternative from the environmental point of view, against to other fuels such as fuel oil or diesel, which were used mostly. At present, LNG is the fuel that allows the greatest reduction of Greenhouse Gases and the almost total elimination of contamination locally. In addition, it is foreseeable that environmental restrictions will continue to increase in the coming decades, making LNG bunkering a growing activity.

Parallel to the LNG bunkering activity, the possibility of new business lines at the terminal is expanded to other sectors. The size of the docks at Endesa's current port terminal allows access for all types of ships of any draft, which gives Endesa's facility in Los Barrios great flexibility and versatility.

Until now, Endesa used this facility mainly for coal discharge activities, as well as for the storage of fiber optic cable and electrical connection cable. With this extension and modification, new business lines associated with LNG. In 2019, the company managed a distributed energy volume of 116,611 Gwh, of which 79,784 GWh corresponded to gas sales of 79,784 GWh.

In addition, the Los Barrios terminal has sufficient space reserved for a possible expansion in the future depending on the evolution of demand (2 additional docks). The installation may progressively increase its Storage capacity, accompanying the growth in demand for LNG bunkering from the initial 4,080 m3 to 10,000 m3 during the decade, and supply, with two additional docks. In addition, the installation of a gas station that also opens the supply of LNG by road is contemplated.

The project has already passed the environmental authorization phase and has just received the extension of the port terminal concession for another ten years, by the Bay of Algeciras Port Authority, for its start-up. The conditioning works, fundamentally the installation of the tanks and the pipe network, will involve the creation of up to 125 workstations, in the construction phase until the end of 2022.

The Bay of Algeciras in figures:

• They scale approximately 30,000 ships / year.
• First port in the Mediterranean and 4th port in Europe in volume of activity, and 32nd in the world in container traffic.
• > 100 million tons of total traffic.
• > 4.5 million containers.
• One of the ports with the most important bunkering activities in the world.
• FO / GO bunker market of 2´2 Million tons - (equiv. 1/3 gas market in Spain)