The South Korean company Iljin Materials, which will build a plant in Mont-Roig del Camp (Tarragona) to produce a key component for electric car batteries from 2024, will have a macro photovoltaic plant next to its new factory. The solar park will only supply electricity for the operation of the Iljin plant, with an intensive demand for electricity.
urban modification
The Mont-roig City Council will change the municipal planning to make the project possible, Iljin’s express requirement
The Mont-roig City Council, together with a private operator, has activated the acquisition of the land by Iljin to respond to the demand for the surface area of the 96-hectare solar park. The processing of the project and the purchase of the land must be done quickly because the macro-plant has to be ready when the battery component factory starts operating, in 2024 according to the schedule established by the South Korean multinational.
This is one of the demands made by Iljin during the negotiations prior to deciding the final location of its new plant in Europe. The South Korean company wants to have its own green energy source to supply its factory, with a very high electricity consumption.
Fran Morancho, the mayor of Mont-roig de Camp
The Mont-roig del Camp City Council will modify its urban planning as quickly as possible to accommodate photovoltaic plants, although only when they are to supply energy to industries in the municipality itself. “We do not want to fill the territory with photovoltaic parks that generate energy that goes to other places,” highlighted Fran Morancho, its mayor. The purchase of the land for the solar park will be from rustic farms that are not currently being cultivated, according to the mayor.
The solar park will become one of the largest in Catalonia, with an area similar to that of one hundred football fields. Iljin has not yet made the necessary investment to make this green energy macroproject a reality. The planned investment in the factory for the electric battery component in Mont-roig will be 600 million euros, the largest in the industrial field in Catalonia in the last fifteen years if those of Seat in Martorell are not taken into account. 500 direct jobs will be created.
