The government doubles its support for the company that had expressed its doubts at the battery factory in Sagunto and does not include the Extremadura giga factory
The government has already determined the destination of the first 877.2 million euros for the Perte of the electric and connected vehicle, out of a total budget of 2,975 million euros. A distribution that the management was forced to speed up after the Volkswagen Group expressed its doubts about the start-up of its star project for a battery factory in Sagunto (Valencia) last week.
The boost that the company gave to the Ministry of Industry seems to be paying off and finally, the joint proposal with Seat and other 60 companies – the so-called “Future: Fast Forward” – will cover 397.37 million euros, 45% of this first batch of European funds for the development of Perte. The figure also doubles the 167 million euros originally allocated.
However, the increase in aid does not secure the investment with which the consortium plans to mobilize up to 10,000 million euros for the electrification of Spanish industry, including the 3,000 million that would be spent on the Valencian project. At the moment, they only commit to analyze the effects of the resolution “in all projects with the aim of finding the appropriate solutions to carry out the maximum possible volume of the planned projects.” Among them, the electrification of the factories in Martorell (Catalonia) and Landaben (Navarra) also stands out.
In total, support was given to 10 initiatives out of 12 originally submitted (13 if we take into account the ones Ford withdrew at the end of August because the deadlines could not be met). One of the big surprises was the decision to leave out the consortia led by Rieju and the Global Gabes consortium led by Envisión, associated with the battery giga factory Navalmoral de la Mata in Extremadura “because they do not meet the requirements that are stated in the call,” said the ministry led by Reyes Maroto.
The blow to the community can be huge. As Envisión itself reported in mid-July – after signing a cooperation protocol with the government – the intention was to make an investment of 2,500 million euros and create 3,000 direct jobs in the giga factory. But with the support of this first batch of Next Generation funds, that is not going to happen now.
However, the company itself made it clear in a statement that it plans to go ahead with the project. And the chairman of the board, Guillermo Fernández Vara, also assured that other types of funding have already been explored, such as regional incentives and other types of European funds managed by his administration.
The company could also gain access to the second installment of the aid the government plans to pay out for a Perte that has currently only granted 30% of the total planned EUR 2,975 million.
Volkswagen, in terms of incentives, will be followed by Mercedes-Benz, which will receive €170.4 million, followed by the Hub dCO2 project with €107.8 million and Tesis, led by Opel, which will receive €52.2 million in support. will receive.
In addition, the government will allocate 40.06 million euros to Renault’s initiative to create an innovative industrial ecosystem for the production of electric and connected vehicles in Spain, while the project led by SAPA will bring in 32.86 million euros.
The initiative led by Faurecia will receive 28.2 million in support, that led by Irizar will receive 24.18 million and the Fagor initiative will have 8.78 million in incentives.
The main novelty of this final list of Perte VEC grants is the inclusion of the ARIES proposal, led by Stellantis, for the Vigo plant, with a grant of 15.19 million euros.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
