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Progress for Iberdrola’s Spanish renewables project

Published by , Editorial Assistant
Energy Global,


Iberdrola has obtained a positive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the photovoltaic (PV) plant in Puertollano, Spain, which will supply energy to a green hydrogen production plant to be launched for industrial use in Europe.

The renewables project, with 100 MW of installed capacity, brings together several innovative elements, both from a technological point of view and in terms of storage capacity:

  • the installation will have bifacial panels which allow for greater production since they have two light-sensitive surfaces, meaning that the installation will have a longer useful life
  • the plant has been designed with cluster or ‘string’ inverters, which improve the yield and allow better use of the surface area
  • the project will have a storage system, which will facilitate plant management. The battery system (with a power of 5 MW) will have a storage capacity of 20 MWh.

With a total investment of €150 million, including the PV plant, the storage system and a 20 MW electrolyser, the project will create 700 jobs.

The project is planned to come into operation in 2021 and, once this happens, it will prevent the emission of 39 000 tpy of CO2, and the clean energy generated will be used to produce green hydrogen for the Fertiberia group's plant in Puertollano.

The Puertollano green hydrogen plant project will be one of the first in an initiative developed within the framework of the alliance between Iberdrola and Fertiberia. Spain aims to have an installation of 800 MW of electrolysis by 2027 and a total investment of €1.8 billion. During its construction, the complete project could promote the generation of 4000 jobs through 500 local suppliers.

With this plan, Iberdrola would put into operation the equivalent of 20% of the national target, which envisages the installation of 4 GW of green hydrogen by 2030, and would ensure that around 25% of the hydrogen currently consumed in Spain does not generate CO2 emissions.

Green investments to promote the recovery of the economy and employment

Iberdrola believes that the energy transition can act as a key vector in the transformation of the industrial fabric and the green recovery of the economy and employment. With this in mind, the company has launched an investment programme worth €75 billion for 2020 - 2025, €14.3 billion of which will go to Spain, with the aim of doubling its renewable capacity and taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the energy revolution that the world's major economies are facing.

In Castilla-La Mancha, central Spain, Iberdrola operates 229 MW of renewable energy – mainly wind – which places it as the autonomous community with the third highest green MW total installed by the company. In the region, together with Puertollano (100 MW), it will develop three further PV projects, with an installed capacity of 150 MW, in Cuenca and Toledo, also situated in central Spain.

After 20 years promoting the energy transition in Spain, Iberdrola has an installed renewable capacity exceeding 16 700 MW, as of September 2020, making its generation facilities among the cleanest in the energy sector.

With CO2/kWh emissions already two-thirds below the European average, the Iberdrola's investment strategy aims to make it a ‘carbon neutral’ company in Europe by 2030.

 

 

For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry read our latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global’s Winter 2020 issue

The Winter issue of Energy Global provides a range of technical articles covering technological advancements and future outlooks in the renewables sector, from companies including CorPower Ocean, Rystad Energy, Black & Veatch, Voltalia, FUERGY, and more.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/22122020/progress-for-iberdrolas-spanish-renewables-project/

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