Galicia university fund ‘will support’ Sentury Tire project

Santiago de Compostela, Spain – The government of Galicia is continuing to take steps to support – among other industrial projects – Sentury Tire’s delayed plan to establish a major tire plant in the region.

In early 2022, Sentury disclosed plans to build a Yuan4 billion (€540 million at the time) plant in Galicia, northwest Spain, with capacity to produce 12-million car tires/year.

Galicia’s president Alfonso Rueda cited the project on 26 July in announcing a €6-million funding package for the University of A Coruna.

According to the regional leader, the investment would support the development of “new energies and new industries” in the local Ferrolterra area.

“There are many strategic initiatives being promoted in the area, such as the H2Pole renewable hydrogen, Sentury tire manufacturing and Ence fibre plants in Pontes,” noted Rueda.

In 2022, Spanish energy company Endesa announced a series of new industrial developments on the site of its – then, soon-to-be-decommissioned – coal-fired power plant in As Pontes.

The schemes included the transfer of 26 hectares of land to Sentury for the construction of a smart tire factory, which would lead to the creation of 750 jobs.

Under the arrangement, Endesa said it would invest around €230 million to construct 191 megawatts of wind power to supply the tire factory.

However, the scheme has faced lengthy delays, with Endesa having to wait until August 2023 before getting a permit from the Spanish government to shut down the As Pontes plant.

On completion of the site-decommissioning, Endesa is to establish 1,300 MW wind- energy projects to convert the capacity of the former plant to renewable power. 

“Electricity produced by these wind farms will support industrial projects presented by Sentury Tire, as well as an important PPA with Alcoa,” stated Endesa.

However, against the background of delay, Sentury in April announced that it was redirecting investment funds for the Spanish project to its under-construction tire factory in Tangier, Morocco.

In a 19 April stock exchange announcement, the Chinese tire maker said the project in Spain was “still in the local pre-approval process [and] no raised funds have been used.”

Instead, Sentury said it would invest €240 million in phase II of Morocco project, which will add capacity to produce 6 million units of radial passenger car and light truck tires at the site. (ERJ report)