January 30, 2025 [Reuters]- Repsol will invest more than 800 million euros ($834 million) in an environmentally friendly methanol plant in northeastern Spain, the company announced on Wednesday, shortly after the Congress of Deputies rejected extending an extraordinary tax on large energy companies.

The so-called Tarragona Ecoplant will be operational in 2029 and will be able to process up to 400,000 tonnes of urban solid waste per year, transforming it into 240,000 tonnes of renewable fuels and circular products, the company added.

Repsol said the Ecoplanta would receive funding from the EU Innovation Fund for low-carbon technologies and cited the European Commission’s estimate that it could save the equivalent of 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in its first decade of operation.

Major Spanish energy companies such as Cepsa, Iberdrola, Naturgy, Endesa and Repsol had warned that the extension of the 1.2% tax on companies with a turnover of at least €1 billion would jeopardise €30 billion in renewable energy investments. The tax had been extended every year since December 2022, but has now expired.

Last October, Repsol suspended investments in green hydrogen and waste-to-energy plants worth 1.5 billion euros and threatened to suspend them if the extraordinary tax on profits became permanent.

Fossil fuel companies are increasingly turning to next-generation renewable fuels — such as sustainable jet fuel made from used cooking oil — to help meet climate goals and regulatory guidelines.

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