The plants are co-located within an eight-kilometre radius of each other in the Cadiz region with a total capacity of 234 MWp.
Since it entered the Iberian market in 2018, the Norwegian-owned company has become an active player in the development of renewable energy, community development and job creation in Spain.
In December 2020, Statkraft (then operating under Solarcentury) gained construction permits for three of the four planned solar farms, Malabrigo, El Yarte and Arenosas. The fourth, La Guita, has environmental permits and is in the process of receiving a final construction permit decision (due July 2021).
Also reported here -
Statkraft has announced a €200 million (£172m) investment in four new solar plants in Cadiz, strengthening its renewable energy position in Spain.
Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal, Executive Vice President European Wind and Solar at Statkraft, said: “Our recent acquisition of Solarcentury in November 2020 further positioned Spain as a major market for Statkraft’s solar footprint going forward and the company’s overall strategy is to develop eight gigawatts of solar and wind power by 2025.
“Solar projects in Spain, like these four farms in Cadiz, will play an important role in Statkraft’s efforts to achieve this.”
WElink Group, CTIEC, Jetion Solar complete 133 MW Project in Spain
The 133 MW Puerto Real 1 project is the first phase of a planned 223 MW solar plant in Cádiz. Swiss asset management firm Capital Dynamics last year acquired plant and has also purchased the upcoming 50 MW Puerto Real 2 project.
Ireland's WElink Group and China Triumph International Engineering Co., Ltd. (CTIEC) have completed the 133 MW Puerto Real 1 project in the Spanish province of Cádiz.
The plant, equipped with modules from Chinese PV manufacturer Jetion Solar, was connected to the grid on March 18 after seven months of construction.
Maybe Statkraft and WElink Group will invest in bees like Iberdrola did by building an apiary at its Andévalo photovoltaic plant near Huelva, in Spain's Andalucia region (not in Campo but north of it along Bay of Cadiz)
The bees have taken such a hit – BCC (Bee Colony Collapse) – that this is seeminlgy good news.
How to attract bees into solar parks
According to new research from the U.K., solar parks may help maintain natural habitats for pollinators that could be, otherwise, destroyed by intensive farming.
Researchers from the Lancaster University and University of Reading, in the United Kingdom, have proposed a series of recommendations to enhance pollinator biodiversity in solar parks. “The recommendations are not yet codified in guidelines but we hope that this study can provide scientific evidence to contribute to the formation of future guidelines and inform industry development of good practice for pollinators,” research co-author Holly Blaydes told pv magazine. “We hope to work with industry and policy [makers], as appropriate, to achieve this.”
Transitioning Spanish utility Repsol has switched on its largest-ever PV farm, with the 264MW Valdesolar project expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of this year.
At full power, Valdesolar, being developed at a cost of €200m ($235m), will provide electricity to some 140,000 homes in the province of Badajoz in the west of Spain, saving over 210,000 tons of CO2 emissions a year.
Along with Valdesolar and Kappa, Repsol has third PV project in Spain, the 204MW Sigma, in the southern province of Cádiz.
Continuing its support in developing clean energy projects around the world, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) will establish a joint venture with Madrid-headquartered Cepsa to build renewable energy projects in Spain and Portugal.
Since 2008, Masdar has been operating in Spain through Torresol Energy. The company fulfils power needs of more than 107,000 homes through its facilities in the province of Cádiz, and in Seville.
In September 2022, the mayors of 70 towns in the southern Andalusia region signed a letter urging the regional government to increase transparency and improve planning in renewable energy projects, saying the proliferation of solar panels and wind turbines was altering the rural landscape.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised on Friday to pass a bill allowing residents to decide the location of solar parks and wind farms in their area and receive some of the profits if his Socialist Party (PSOE) wins the general election on July 23.
