MOTRIL (GRANADA), 17 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mines of the Andalusian Government, Jorge Paradela, has visited the Port of Motril on the coast of Granada, where he learned about the status of the GreenMotril project, an ambitious initiative for decarbonizing port activities promoted by the Granada-based company Cuerva, General Electric, and the Port Authority. The project is currently under construction and will supply electricity through a self-managed energy community.
In a press release following the visit, the minister highlighted the 200,000 euro incentive granted by the Andalusian Energy Agency, an entity under his Ministry, to the Port Authority, supporting an investment of 662,560 euros.
This project involves improving the medium-voltage connection and adapting the electrical installations to increase the supply capacity to 800 kilowatts (kW) in the electrical outlets for recharging ships at the port. This initiative contributes to the decarbonization of maritime transport by using electricity instead of fossil fuels, as stated by the minister.
Accompanied by the President of the Port Authority of Motril, José García Fuentes; the Managing Director of the Andalusian Energy Agency, Natalia Márquez; and the Industrial Delegate of the Junta in Granada, Gumersindo Fernández, the minister emphasized the commitment of the Motril port to supply electricity from renewable sources through the implementation of a self-managed energy community. This initiative will supply electricity and, during its first decade, reduce emissions equivalent to 10,000 vehicles.
«Maritime transport and port activity are areas that require efforts to electrify. Providing electricity from renewable sources through an energy community is a solution that will allow smarter and more flexible management to meet the needs of port users,» emphasized Jorge Paradela.
This project, supported by the EU Innovation Fund, also represents «an example of public-private collaboration,» which is further endorsed by the authorization granted by the Granada Territorial Delegation to the Port for assuming the management of the port area’s distribution network.
Jorge Paradela noted that these actions are fully «aligned» with the policies promoted by the Andalusian Government, including the roadmap being developed by the Andalusian Energy Agency to strengthen the development of energy communities and collective self-consumption, which are essential for the distributed generation of renewable energies in the region.
With this new tool, the minister recalled that the Andalusian Government aims to launch at least 1,000 new installations to reach a capacity of 68 MW by the end of 2026, doubling the current capacity.
Furthermore, he emphasized that this initiative will «contribute to the development of a specialized business fabric in the technical and financial fields, promoting a framework of partnerships based on public-private collaboration with local entities, and giving visibility to the companies and industries that make up the value chain associated with collective self-consumption and energy communities,» explained the minister.
Paradela visited the Dique and Azucenas Docks, highlighting the pivotal role of the Motril port, which accounts for three percent of the provincial GDP, in the export of minerals from Granada quarries, surpassing 500,000 tons in 2024. The port also handles special loads due to their large dimensions, such as wind turbine blades. In the last five years alone, 5,000 structures of this kind have been shipped from their facilities.