Appreciation of the rural environment

ENTAMA is the main program for the Action Plan for Local Communities developed by EDP in Spain. It has been developed within the sustainability strategy framework by the EDP Group, centered on ESG excellence (environmental, social, and good governance). The support of local entrepreneurship projects has attained major importance, not only as a lever for the recovery after the post-covid-19 crisis but also as a generator of value in the rural world, fixating populations and ensuring equal opportunities, employment, and access to services, inclusively.

The program is endowed with an annual budget of 85.000€ to finance projects in councils where EDP has set up installations in Spain: Carreño, Ribera de Arriba, Proaza, Morcín, Quirós, Somiedo, Belmonte, Santo Adriano, Caso, Tineo, Teverga and Sobrescobio, and in other rural councils, with under less 5.000 inhabitants, or whose population density is under 100 inhabitants per Km2.

The competitor projects must align with EDP’s values - initiative, confidence, excellence, sustainability, and innovation - and obey some important criteria, which we highlight:

• Economic feasibility;
• Sustainability: the ability to produce effective and lasting changes, which means that can ensure its continuity after EDP’s support, through additional financing, autonomous generation of income, and skills development, among others;
• Perspectives for business expansion: potential for growth and possibility of adjustment to other geographies;
• Transversal elements: the ability to effectively incorporate one or several transversal elements, such as the potential in employment creation, fixating population in the rural world, or impact in inclusion and equality, among others.

In its first two editions, 16 projects were selected, targeted for a 170.000€ investment. The next steps include analyzing the possibilities of extending the program for several other projects and councils.