PPAs driving ground-mounted solar release in Spain as 2020 installs get to 2.8 GWp.

• Merchant solar as well as projects backed by power acquisition agreements (PPAs) drove ground-mounted PV release in Spain last year, as the nation mounted its second-highest yearly quantity of 2.8 GWp, new numbers from profession organization UNEF reveal.

While the numbers are down on 2019-- when the country released 4.1 GW of ground-mounted solar, its highest ever before level-- UNEF stated the results last year were historic because no state help was called for to support new developments.

In terms of self-consumption projects, 596MW was released in Spain last year, the highest possible ever before amount in the country and also up 30% on 2019.

The release updates create part of UNEF's 2020 annual report, which disclosed Spain was Europe's leading market in regards to PPAs. "Almost all" large-scale PV projects installed in the region last year were backed by PPAs, the profession body stated.

Amongst the PPAs announced in 2020 was a ten-year arrangement in between designer Solaria as well as power trader Axpo Iberia for 150MW of solar projects, while Acciona secured a deal to provide 100GWh of eco-friendly electrical power per year to telecoms firm Telefónica.

Spain last year presented a brand-new renewables auction mechanism, with the initial public auction under that system happening in January as well as awarding more than 2GW of solar capability.

As well as giving security for the growth of brand-new projects, the auctions will aid Spain reach its clean power goals, UNEF stated, that include the target of having 39.2 GW of mounted PV capacity by 2030 under its nationwide power and also climate strategy. To reach that number, the nation will require to deploy approximately 2.7 GW of solar per year for the following years.

In regards to utility-scale deployment, it is expected that 2021 will certainly comply with a similar trend to 2020, as projects awarded from the auctions are still being created. Implementation figures for the beginning of 2021 were "very promising", UNEF supervisor basic José Donoso told PV Tech previously this year. This year might see as high as 3GW of ground-mounted solar released, while some projects awarded in January's public auction could be connected to the grid in 2022.

The brand-new public auction device will sustain the implementation of at the very least 10GW of solar PV by 2025. While UNEF invited the outcomes of the first auction, it reinforced require a separate auction for power storage space systems or renewables-plus-storage projects to aid the country satisfy its target of 2.5 GW of released battery storage by 2030.

The UNEF record likewise exposed that Spain's PV sector last year sustained practically 59,000 indirect and straight jobs and also contributed EUR3.7 billion (US$ 4.4 billion) to the country's GDP.

" With this data on the table, we are persuaded that the photovoltaic or pv sector will certainly bring financial development and also job development to the nation, at the same time it will certainly add to the rise of its biodiversity and also the fight versus the environment emergency," stated UNEF president Rafael Benjumea.