RWE is making good progress in expanding its solar business in Spain: having last year kicked-off the construction for two solar farms in the Province of Guadalajara, the company is now realising a ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) plant with a planned capacity of 10 megawatts (MWac) in south west of Spain. Early construction works for the solar farm Las Vaguadas in the province of Badajozhave already kicked-off. The installation of around 20,000 solar panels is expected to start in late summer on an area of about 21 hectares.
Robert Navarro, President and CEO, RWE Renewables Iberia:“We are happy to contribute to the energy transition in Spain with our three new solar farms under construction. In total we will install more than 210,000 solar modules. Once completed, these projects will make a substantial contribution to reach the local climate targets and will add around 100-megawatt solar capacity to our already strong renewables footprint in Spain.”
In addition, RWE is constructing the solar farms Casa Valdes and Puerta del Sol, each with a capacity of 44 MWac. For all three solar projects, RWE is using bifacial high-performance modules. The advantage: the bifacial cells are embedded in a double-sided glass-module by which the solar radiation can be absorbed from both sides – the front and the back of the module. This will help to increase the production. Once all three solar farms are completed in the first quarter of 2023 they will produce enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of 68,000 Spanish homes.
Strong renewables footprint in Spain
RWE has gained considerable experience in Spain and already operates onshore wind farms with a total capacity of more than 440 MW in the country. The company is also involved in a PV plant in the Spanish province of Toledo and in the solar thermal power station Andasol 3. Furthermore RWE’s ground-mounted solar farm Alarcos went into operation in 2020. This solar farm has a capacity of 45 MWac and is located south of the city of Ciudad Real, in the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha. Furthermore RWE is involved in the floating wind project DemoSATH, which is planned to be launched and commissioned later this year.
RWE is driving innovations in the solar industry
As one of the leading renewable energy companies, RWE is operating photovoltaic plants worldwide– including Limondale, which is with a capacity of 249 MWac one of the largest solar farms in Australia. Further solar projects are in development or already under construction with a strong focus on implementing innovative solutions. This year the company has completed its first floating photovoltaic project on a lake in the Netherlands. In addition, RWE is currently constructing solar plants with integrated battery storage systems and is looking into the development of agricultural photovoltaic plants.
RWE is leading the way to a green energy world
As part of its ambitious “Growing Green” growth strategy RWE is massively stepping up the pace and is investing €50 billion gross in its core business in this decade. That means an average of €5 billion gross each year for offshore and onshore wind, solar, batteries, flexible generation and hydrogen. In onshore wind and solar, RWE is expanding its installed capacity from more than 7 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts by 2030.