Iberdrola takes on battery recycling and plans big solar PV manufacturing plant

Spanish clean energy giant Iberdrola is taking steps to deliver industrial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling at a specialised facility in Spain, at the same time that the company is also planning a 1.6GW solar PV production facility.

Iberdrola announced this week that it was partnering with Glencore, one of the world’s largest natural resource companies and one of the worlds’ leading producer, recycler, and marketer of battery metals.

Together, along with FCC Ámbito, a subsidiary of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente, the three companies are collaborating on the development of recycling solutions for lithium batteries from both manufacturing rejects and end-of-life batteries.

The three companies have already completed an in-depth analysis of the potential battery recycling market in the Iberian Peninsula and are now working to identify technology partners to help in the delivery of a battery recycling facility.

Upon completion, the facility will allow for the pre-separation of lithium-ion batteries for subsequent refining.

“At Iberdrola, we see this new collaboration as a valuable opportunity to contribute to the circularity of the elements of the energy transition that we are driving, as well as expanding the scope of our successful partnership with FCC, which is already addressing the recycling of wind turbine blades,” said Álvaro Portellano, head of PERSEO Venture Builder at Iberdrola.

“This collaboration supports our ambition to grow our recycling business in new markets,” added Kunal Sinha, global head of recycling at Glencore.

“We see production waste and post-consumer materials as valuable resources that will help meet the growing demand for the critical metals that underpin the energy transition and the global ambition to achieve net-zero emissions.”

The announcement comes only days after Iberdrola announced that it had submitted plans for a solar PV panel manufacturing facility to the third call of the Innovation Fund, the European Commission’s grant programme, which is focused on helping projects demonstrating innovative technologies to reduce emissions.

Iberdrola’s solar PV facility would boast a production capacity of 1.6GW per year, equivalent to 3 million solar panels, and could cover a third of the current demand for solar PV in Spain.