The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend Spanish utility Naturgy €1bn to increase renewable power generation by 2.3GW, enough to power over a million homes.

Naturgy will use the money to build onshore solar and wind farms, make existing facilities hybrid, and install batteries.

The first €400m tranche of the loan was announced on 29 November.

Naturgy said the project would create 4,200 jobs in poorer, rural parts of the country experiencing depopulation.

The company’s executive chairman Francisco Reynés said the projects in so-called “empty Spain” would result in “greater territorial cohesion” for the country.