Immaculate Martinez | Valencia, June 11 (EFE).- The Volkswagen project of the gigafactory of battery cells in Sagunto, which has been a priority for the Botànic de Ximo Puig, has several infrastructures pending to specify whose execution or processing inherits the new autonomous government of the pp.
The development of the plant goes outside the ordinary guidelines established in territorial and urban planning, since it was declared a Strategic Territorial Project (PTE) for industries with a high technological and innovative component due to the magnitude and effects of the project.
The estimated total investment in the project is around 4,500 million euros, of which 3,000 million are expected to be invested during the first phase of construction of the plant.
The construction phase of the plant is estimated at an annual average of 8,900 direct jobs and 10,200 indirect jobs during the period 2023-2026; for production, direct jobs will be almost 4,200 (92% production staff and 8% management and administration); and indirect employment reaches 27,000 jobs and induced employment 11,400, according to the figures contained in the PTE.
Start scheduled for 2026
The Sagunto battery cell factory, which is scheduled to start production in 2026, will have an annual production capacity of 40 GWh per year, expandable to 60 gigawatts, and will supply the Volkswagen Group car plants in Martorell and Pamplona.
At the moment, the works of the cell plant have not started and will begin throughout this 2023, following the established schedule, according to EFE sources from the company.
The pending infrastructures that will provide services to the plant are photovoltaic, an electrical substation, an intermodal station and a training center, among others, according to sources close to the project consulted by EFE.
Photovoltaic plant
The gigafactory will be powered by renewable energy of photovoltaic origin, and an energy supply of approximately 240 GWh/year is planned, in a self-consumption regime, which is why several photovoltaic plants are necessary in the vicinity within the municipality of Sagunto.
The Generalitat will be the owner of the land of the photovoltaic installations, which will be acquired through expropriation or another tool.
Iberdrola projects a 240-hectare solar plant on these lands in which it will invest 500 million euros, according to the agreement signed a year ago between the Volkswagen group and the electric company, and with which the gigafactory will receive between 20% and 30% of your energy needs.
The location of the land linked to the Sagunto II and Sagunto III photovoltaic projects makes it necessary for the administration to acquire them, according to the Generalitat.
Electrical substation and intermodal station
The public company Espais Económics Empresarials (EEE), 50% owned by Sepides and the Generalitat, has provisionally awarded two lots of the Sagunt II urbanization works for the structural axis that constitutes a general system of communications between the V -23, Parc Sagunto I and the Port of Sagunto, and the rest of the business areas in the area, and for the urbanization of the land included in the entire logistical and industrial area of Parc Sagunto II.
The rest of the actions defined are grouped into other lots that will be put out to tender in the coming months as the project is being carried out.
In these next lots are the intermodal station, the treatment plant, the training center, the electrical substation, the landscaping or the buildings related to the parking lot and transfer station, of which no details are known at the moment regarding execution terms.
El campus battery
The training center that will be built in Sagunto to provide qualified personnel to the gigafactory will offer dual vocational training in automation, mechatronics and industrial chemistry and environmental safety, but also grade A, B, C or E training and may offer other university level training to raise the specialization.
The “Campus Battery” will have the capacity to train 400 students in a curricular design that will be adapted to the needs of PowerCo and will occupy a plot of almost 16,000 square meters in the Parc Sagunt I industrial park.
The forecast was that it would begin to function in the 2024-2025 academic year, but if this is not possible, it is not ruled out that the training will begin to be offered in nearby centers if necessary. EFE