Ríos Renovables strengthens its biomass division with the acquisition of Inypsa Servicios Energéticos

Ríos Renovables Group has completed the acquisition of InypsA Servicios Energéticos (ISE), the energy subsidiary of the Inypsa Group, an operation in which it has invested 1.34 million eur to increase the service portfolio of the Biomass Division of the Navarre-based firm and strengthen its position in the renewable energy market in Catalonia and Andalusia.

Three new power plants
The agreement allows the Navarrese company to acquire an industrial biomass thermal power plant that generates steam for the multinational paper company LC Paper, in Besalú (Girona) and two other facilities that supply hot water and heating to the hotel establishments that the Barceló Group owns in Ayamonte (Huelva) and in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz).

The industrial biomass power plant is located on the same premises as the LC Paper paper mill, from where it supplies steam to a tissue paper machine and a kraft paper machine with consumption requirements of 4 t/h, reaching 13 GWh annually. To generate this demand, the plant consumes 5,500 tons of biomass obtained from local forestry operations.

LC Paper is the world's first paper manufacturer to achieve a zero carbon footprint, to which this biomass power plant contributes.

As for the rest, in the case of the Ayamonte plant, the facility consumes 170 tons of A1 certified olive pits annually to meet the annual thermal demand of 600,000 kWh for domestic hot water, heating and an indoor heated pool of the Barceló Isla Canela hotel, a six-story establishment with 349 rooms, located next to the mouth of the Guadiana River.

The second plant serving the Barceló Group is located at the Royal Hideaway Sancti Petri Hotel, a luxury resort on La Barrosa beach in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz). This plant consumes 310 tons of olive pits annually to meet an annual thermal demand of 1,100 MWh for domestic hot water, heating, the spa, and the heated swimming pool.

With the acquisition of ISE, Rios Renovables takes a giant step towards industrial-type biomass-fired steam power plants, betting on the energy services model in a sector where the investment requirements to carry out projects demand a large financing capacity.

The Thermal Installations Division contributes 20% of the company's annual revenue. Nationally, it manages a portfolio of 150 thermal power plants, 70 of which use renewable fuel, representing an annual consumption of 70 GWh, equivalent to 6,018 toe, with a volume of avoided emissions of 17,885 metric tons of CO2.