Capital Energy is to build a biodiesel factory at the Port of Bilbao after its project design was given the green light by the Port Authority's Board of Directors. This will be the third biodiesel factory in the port zone, joining two earlier projects, now under construction, promoted by other companies.
At 48 million euros, the Capital Energy factory is going to cost a lot more than the planned original 33.3 million investment. The rise in costs is due largely to unexpected complications in the process of shifting earth.
And even if the project deadline is complied with, the factory isn't likely to be up and running until sometime in 2010. The factory is expected to take 22 months to build before biodiesel production can actually begin.
Occupying a 27,000-square-metre site on the side of Mt. Serantes in Ciérvana overlooking the port, Capital Energy's factory will have a production capacity of around 150,000 tons a year.
Construction work on the factory is expected to create 33 new jobs directly, with induced employment of around 200 jobs. According to current Port of Bilbao information, the 150,000-ton annual production capability should mean minimum annual throughput at the port of 180,000 tons.
Management sources at Capital Energy say the factory will use certified virgin soy, rapeseed and palm vegetable oils as raw materials.
According to the sources, the company decided to set up at the Port of Bilbao because, in logistical terms, it really is the "ideal spot". Capital Energy management describe the port as offering "superb logistics", both for receiving raw materials, which will be processed at the refinery immediately after arrival, and for product distribution, via the CLH terminals.
In recent years, a number of firms have shown interest in producing biodiesel at the Port of Bilbao. Today, two projects are under construction, one promoted by a company called Biocombustibles de Zierbena, the other by Bunge Ibérica. The third initiative of its kind at the port, Capital Energy factory will pre-date a fourth project promoted by Petronor, which is currently awaiting integrated environmental authorization and the environmental impact report for definitive approval. Bunge's factory, occupying some 70,000 square metres in Punta Sollana, will eventually have capacity to process some 200,000 tons of fuel a year, which will be refined at the Petronor refinery just up the coast in Somorrostro.