Iberdrola Commits to 400 MW Solar Pipeline in Extremadura

Iberdrola has stepped up its commitment to clean energy with new solar capacity worth over 400 MW, which the company is to put into operation in Extremadura

Iberdrola has stepped up its commitment to clean energy with new solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity worth over 400 MW, which the company is to put into operation in Extremadura, Spain.

Two of the projects, the Majada Alta and Santa Antonio solar plants, of 50 MW each, will be built in the municipality of Cedillo in Cáceres. The company also has for a solar plant with a capacity of more than 300 MW in the same area, with access to the grid. The two Cedillo plants, already presented to the Extremaduran Regional Government, will comprise 300,000 photovoltaic panels, and the construction phase could mean work for 200 people. It is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020.

The firm will foresee that another of its projects in the region, the Campo Arañuelo complex (Arañuelo I, II and III of 150 MW) will be the next to commence construction at the beginning of 2020. Its development – which could create another 200 jobs during construction- has a high local involvement since the engineering and environmental work has been awarded to the Extremaduran company Ecoenergías del Guadiana and the power transformers will be supplied by Faramax. The project also includes an energy storage system involving the use of an innovative battery.

In Extremadura, Iberdrola is building the Núñez de Balboa PV plant-the largest under construction in Europe-and has in the pipeline, together with the Cedillo projects, the photovoltaic plants Francisco Pizarro (590 MW), located in Torrecillas de la Tiesa; Ceclavín (328 MW), in Alcántara; and Arenales (150 MW), in Cáceres, as well as Campo Arañuelo I, II and III (150 MW), in the Almaraz administrative district. This brings the company’s solar megawatts under construction or in the pipeline in the region to 1,800 MW, making Extremadura the focus of Iberdrola’s renewable strategy in Spain.

In Spain, projects under construction or in the pipeline, both wind power and photovoltaic, amount to over 2,500 MW -representing more than 80 percent of the installed capacity forecast by the company for 2022- in regions like Extremadura, Castille-La Mancha, Navarre, Aragon, Andalusia, Murcia and Cantabria. 

The company plans to invest in renewable energies in Spain includes the installation of 3,000 new MW by 2022. By 2030, company forecasts point to the installation of 10,000 new MW. These actions will enable jobs to be created for 20,000 people.