Spain

The global expansion of PV, wind power and other clean energies will see double-digit growth this year as solar continues to lead the pack.

Politicians’ failure to form government pacts condemns Spain’s clean energy shift to further delays and uncertainty, the industry has warned as the country heads to fresh polls.

Enel Green Power has switched on a utility-scale solar project it developed in Spain’s southeast with support from the country’s renewable auction of 2017.

Spain’s subsidy-free solar scene has marked another boost after a power purchase agreement (PPA) was secured for a major project in the country’s centre-west.

Emilio J Garcia Rodriguez, from tracker manufacturer PV Hardware, spoke to pv magazine about the company’s activity in the Middle East and North Africa market. Dust, heat and heavy storms complicate the installation and operation of trackers.

The ‘green’ version of the ION Green Solar lift – designed, developed and manufactured in Spain by Fain Ascensores – can cut carbon emissions 86%. That figure rises to 100% with the PV-powered ‘solar’ model.

Mounting systems specialist STI Norland said it had surpassed 3GW of cumulative installations with 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders expected in 2019.

When built, the 5 MW solar park will supplement two other megawatt scale plants powering the camp. The project is expected to be developed with the support of the Spanish government.

Spanish developer and utility Iberdrola is waiting for project approval from the Castilla-La Mancha government to move ahead with four utility-scale solar PV facilities in the central Spanish region.

Two sponsors of one of Spain’s iconic subsidy-free plants have sealed a deal to deploy a smaller successor in the same area, planned again without support from government money.

Yingli’s European subsidiary has supplied Spanish solar developer Solaria Energia y Medio Ambiente with PV panels for three plants with a combined 110MW of capacity.

A new report from analysts at Wood Mackenzie forecasts 6.6 GWh of residential energy storage to be installed across Europe by 2024. The economics of the technology are at a tipping point, increasingly reaching grid parity in European markets. With rising electricity demand and falling battery system costs, the trend will further spread across the continent and fuel an uptick in demand.

One of Spain’s largest banks has gotten behind a utility-scale solar portfolio, planned without support from auctions nor power purchase agreements (PPAs).

The costs of residential solar-plus-storage have already dropped or will only take a few years to drop to nation-wide grid averages across key European markets, according to Wood Mackenzie.

The €29.7 million financing package was awarded by Banco Sabadell. Renovalia’s 79.2 MW solar park will be Spain’s first PV facility to sell all of its output on the spot market.