The Board modifies the environmental authorization for Pinasa's cogeneration in Fuentes

The General Directorate of Environmental Quality of the Department of Sustainable Development of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha has modified the integrated environmental authorization of the combined cycle cogeneration plant located in the municipality of Fuentes (Cuenca), owned by Productos Industriales del Aglomerado S.A. (Pinasa), to incorporate a recycled chip scrubbing tower and a production line for pallet blocks. The resolution, signed on September 18, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of Castilla-La Mancha no. 200, dated October 19, 2026, with the official reference 2026/7377. The text confirms that this is a non-substantial modification and provides the consolidated text of the authorization.

The action is processed under file AAI-CU-020, with environmental identification number NIMA 1620831808, and affects a facility that totals 22.9 MW of combined cycle electricity and 4 MW of biomass electricity. The original authorization was granted by Resolution of August 20, 2012, to Grupo Losán and was published in DOCM no. 164 of August 22, 2012; since then, ownership passed to Compañía Energética para El Tablero, S.A. (Cometa) in 2013 and to Pinasa in 2022, according to the resolution of June 24, 2022, published in DOCM no. 131 of July 11, 2022.

A non-substantial modification without impact assessment

The owner requested the change on January 11, 2022, and provided additional documentation with records from January 19, 2024 (REGAGE24e00004588803) and March 15, 2024 (number 998622). The proposed resolution was issued on June 2, 2026, with registration number 604703, and no allegations were presented during the hearing process.

The General Directorate of Environmental Quality concludes that the project is not included in the annexes of Law 2/2020 on Environmental Assessment of Castilla-La Mancha nor in those of Law 21/2013, therefore it should not be subject to the environmental impact assessment process. The ruling links to the report from the General Directorate of Circular Economy dated September 16, 2021 (file PRO-SC-20-0884), which had already estimated that the installation had no significant effects on the environment.

The regional Executive maintains that the modification does not imply capacity increases nor exceeds legal thresholds: it does not increase the consumption of water, raw materials, or energy by more than 50%, nor the mass emission of atmospheric pollutants or hazardous waste by more than 25%. It also does not foresee discharges into the public hydraulic domain nor impacts on protected areas, cultural heritage, or landscape.

Scrubbing tower: 300 cubic meters per hour

The new recycled chip cleaning tower separates ferrous and non-ferrous metals, heavy contaminants, sands, and light materials such as plastics, foils, and papers, until clean micro and macro-chips are obtained. Its technical parameters are:

• Treatment capacity: 300 m³/hour, with a yield of 40 tons/hour of clean material.
• Gas treatment system: bag filter with a channeled stack 19.1 meters high and 0.8 meters in diameter.
• Authorized flow rate: 105,000 m³/hour.
• Particle emission limit: 5 mg/Nm³, with periodic measurement at least annually.

Block line: four lines and 248 cubic meters per day

The pallet block manufacturing line occupies 1,950 m² and integrates dosing, gluing, pressing, cutting and quality control, packaging, top covering, and aspiration. The average capacity is 180 m³/day, with four lines of 45 m³/day each, and a maximum of 248 m³/day. The declared consumptions are:

• Water: 3,000 m³/year.
• Liquid glue: 60-70 kg/m³; emulsion: 10-12 kg/m³; hardener: 7-9 kg/m³.
• Wood: 450-500 kg/m³, with a final density of 550-650 kg/m³.

The aspiration gases from the press pass through a wet scrubber with a stack 12.2 meters high, 0.7 meters in diameter, and 24,000 m³/hour. The set limits are 10 mg/Nm³ of particles, 100 mg/Nm³ of total volatile organic compounds, and 15 mg/Nm³ of formaldehyde, with measurement at least semi-annually.

Noise, discharges, and administrative control

The consolidated text maintains the sound immission levels at the plot boundary at 70 decibels during the day and afternoon and 60 at night, and preserves the discharge conditions of report 2002VI0196 from the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, dated May 29, 2015. The annual volume of industrial wastewater is estimated at 90,684.5 m³, with emission limit values for pH, suspended solids, BOD5, COD, nitrates, chlorides, sulfates, and oils and greases.

The resolution does not end the administrative process: an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the head of the Ministry of Sustainable Development within one month from the day following its notification. The document is signed in Toledo by the Director General of Environmental Quality, Tomás Villarrubia Lázaro.

The decision clears the environmental framework for an industrial plant relevant to the productive fabric of the Cuenca region and for the particleboard chain, by integrating the new chip washing and block manufacturing facilities into a single authorization. For the environment of Fuentes, the interest is concentrated on the limits for particles, formaldehyde, and noise, and on the periodic control that the authorization imposes on the new emission sources.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, no. 200, October 19, 2026, section III (Other Provisions and Acts), page 36786 (official reference: 2026/7377).