Iberdrola Commissions Europe’s Largest Solar Plant With 590 MW Capacity

The 590 MW “Francisco Pizarro” PV project in Extremadura, southwest Spain, the biggest solar facility in Europe, has been put into operation by Spanish energy company Iberdrola. This is the largest solar plant installation to be ever built by Iberdrola. The €300 million ($310 million) project is situated between the Cáceres communities of Torrecillas de la Tiesta and Aldeacentenera.

To reach 25GW in the upcoming years, the organisation has already installed more than 19.3GW of renewable energy in Spain. By 2025, it has allotted €14.3 billion (US$14.8 billion) for the installation of renewable energy sources and smart grids.

During the busiest times of construction, the Francisco Pizarro, which uses 1.5 million PV modules, generated more than 1,500 jobs, more than half of which went to local employees, and it .

Iberdrola has long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with several well-known corporations to provide all of their factories in Spain with renewable energy. Such PPAs with companies like Danone, Bayer, and PepsiCo give provided project stability.

Despite the project’s extensive land coverage, it has been constructed in a way that permits sheep to graze nearby. The corporation further asserted that it had improved the habitats for forest species by erecting nesting boxes, bird feeding protection zones, and a controlled breeding facility for breeding rabbits.

Twenty rock formations containing carvings and pictographs were discovered during the project’s implementation, along with three ancient and medieval archaeological sites. Iberdrola has kept an eye on and protected the sites.

Francisco Pizarro surpasses the 500 MW Nez de Balboa, Iberdrola’s previous largest solar plant in Spain, in terms of installed capacity. Nez de Balboa was ordered by a Spanish court to return a portion of its land after disagreements with one of the three landowners.

Iberdrola’s first half of 2022 had a net profit of €2.07 billion (US$2.1 billion), with excellent earnings in its foreign sector compensating for poor results in Spain.