AENOR grants the Zero Waste certificate to two Ence biomass plants

The Ence biomass energy generation plants “La Loma”, located in Villanueva del Arzobispo (Jaén) and “Enemansa”, whose location is in the Castilian-La Mancha town of Villarta de San Juan, have received the “Zero Waste” environmental certificate ” awarded by AENOR to those organizations that carry out efficient management of their waste and are capable of valuing it.

In this way, these two independent renewable energy generation facilities with agroforestry biomass have obtained recognition that Ence's pulp biomills in Navia and Pontevedra already have, and that only a small group of companies in Spain have.

The AENOR Zero Waste certificate certifies that Ence valorizes all waste fractions in these plants and prevents them from having their final destination in the landfill , thanks to a traceability system in waste management that encompasses all the actors involved and entails an exhaustive process of documentation and monitoring of each of them.

Through reuse, recycling or recovery, La Loma and Enemansa reintroduced these remains into the value chain, giving them a new life. Both managed to recover 100% of their waste in 2020 , a milestone even within the Zero Waste certification. Furthermore, thanks to this management, Ence prevented more than 13,800 tons of waste, mainly from local agriculture, from ending up in the landfill.

The adaptation of the plants' production systems to minimize waste and reduce the management of some of it has involved an investment of €400,000 in the case of the Loma plant, while in Enemansa, it exceeds €100,000.

Obtaining this certificate is another example of Ence's commitment to the circular economy, a model that advocates minimizing waste and reusing it. Thus, in its independent biomass power plants, the company uses waste from nearby fields to produce renewable energy, thus avoiding its burning, and thus the emission of thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Likewise, the energy use of biomass from around Ence's plants has a high social impact in terms of economic revitalization and employment . According to data from the Association of Renewable Energy Companies (APPA), each megawatt installed for biomass supports 30 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Ence generates renewable electricity in eight independent generation plants: three in Huelva, two in the province of Ciudad Real, one in Córdoba, one in Mérida and one in Jaén. These are generation plants that feed exclusively on remains of agroforestry origin. To these 253 MW of independent renewable energy generation, 112 MW of sustainable and low-emission cogeneration are also added, derived from the cellulose production process in the Navia and Pontevedra biofactories.