Extremadura endorses the modification of the Trujillo diamond plant

The General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy has ruled that the third modification of the synthetic diamond production plant project in Trujillo does not need to undergo a new environmental impact assessment procedure. The decision, signed on September 9, 2026, by the general director Juan Eloy Rodríguez Ucedo, is published in the Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE) No. 182, of September 21, 2026, with official reference 2026062355 and file IA26/0757.

The competent body is the General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy, under the Ministry of Industry, Energy, Science, and Territory, acting in accordance with Article 86 of Law 16/2015, of April 23, on environmental protection of Extremadura. The project promoter is the company Diamond Foundry Europe, SL, which had already obtained an environmental impact statement via Resolution of February 24, 2023 (DOE No. 42, of March 2, 2023, file IA22/1266).

A third accumulated modification

The original project consisted of the construction and operation of a synthetic diamond manufacturing facility using chemical vapor deposition, with a 132 kV high-voltage line of 6.921 km between the Trujillo substation and the Diamond Factory substation. Based on this, three modifications have occurred:

• Resolution of October 16, 2023, which affected only the power supply line (DOE No. 207, of October 27, 2023).
• Resolution of July 18, 2025, regarding buildings, machinery, and installations (DOE No. 143, of July 25, 2025, file IA25/0804).
• The modification now assessed, whose environmental document entered the Single Registry on May 26, 2026.

The new change unifies production buildings 2 and 3 into a single three-story building, without increasing the production lines or the number of pieces of equipment. The occupied area increases from 17,616.12 to 21,257.03 square meters, and the built area from 20,278.63 to 48,861.22 square meters.

Less water and more electricity

The most relevant technological change is the replacement of cooling towers with water chillers, moving from an open evaporation system to a closed one. The plant will have 27 cooling towers in building 1 and 18 chillers in building 2. The result is a decrease in water consumption and an increase in electricity consumption:

• Water consumption: from 714,262 to 687,092 cubic meters per year, with production water dropping from 683,312 to 656,142 annual cubic meters.
• Electricity consumption: from 539,616,000 to 730,584,000 kWh per year.

The atmospheric emission sources are also modified: the vents for the hydrogen generators and plasma reactors are relocated by being concentrated in a single building, and the number of sources associated with the reactors increases without an increase in equipment or emitted volumes. Similarly, the number and type of noise sources are altered, and the rainwater and process water sanitation network is adapted, with reduced discharge flow rates.

Favorable reports and absence of impacts

On July 27, 2026, the Directorate General initiated the request for reports from the affected administrations. Responses were received from the Nature Conservation and Protected Areas Service of the Directorate General for Hunting, Fishing, Aquaculture, Bullfighting and Natural Environment (August 21, 2026) and the Directorate General for Urbanism, Territorial Planning and Urban Agenda (reports dated July 30 and August 26, 2026). No response is recorded from the Tagus Hydrographic Confederation.

The environmental report indicates that the area is not included in the Natura 2000 Network nor in the Network of Protected Natural Areas of Extremadura, no habitats of community interest or species from the Regional Catalog of Threatened Species were found, and the measures from the impact report with file CN22/7109 are maintained. The Trujillo City Council reported on August 4, 2026, that the modification is not substantial in nature and complies with the Subsidiary Planning Regulations.

The resolution concludes that no significant adverse effects on the environment are foreseen and maintains the conditions of the previous resolutions. The text specifies that no appeal may be filed against this resolution, without prejudice to those that may proceed against the project authorization act, and that it is issued solely for environmental purposes.

The decision clears the administrative path for a large-scale industrial installation in the municipality of Trujillo, whose energy profile skyrockets while reducing its water footprint. For the residents and the industrial fabric of the region, the key piece of data is that the project moves forward without a new full environmental assessment, with electricity consumption as the main increasing magnitude and water as the main decreasing magnitude.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE), no. 182, of September 21, 2026, section I, Resolution of September 9, 2026, of the Directorate General for Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy (official reference: 2026062355).