BayWa r.e. and Statkraft sign another power deal for subsidy free PV in Spain

Solar developer BayWa r.e. and energy company Statkraft have extended their partnership by signing a 12-year power supply deal.

The agreement relates to the 50 MW Don Rodrigo 2 power plant to be built just outside Seville in southern Spain. If there is a familiar sound to the development, it is because both companies signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 175 MW Don Rodrigo site last year. The new plant will be built 3km from the first location.

When the initial Don Rodrigo site was commissioned late last year it made headlines, with BayWa claiming it was the first utility scale solar park built without subsidy in Europe.

“With Don Rodrigo 2, we continue to forge ahead with subsidy-free solar in Europe”, said Benedikt Ortmann, global director of solar projects at BayWa r.e. “Soon, we will have delivered yet another proven grid-parity project as we continue to execute on our existing pipeline in Spain. We’re very proud to be leading the way for grid parity in Spain and Europe. But this is just beginning. We are proactively looking for other projects and developers to work with in Spain and Portugal and are excited about further opportunities for subsidy-free projects in Europe – solar power has truly come of age.”

Since the first Don Rodrigo plant started operating, a sizable project pipeline of subsidy-free projects has accumulated on the Iberian peninsula. Breakthrough announcements have also come in Germany and Denmark, as well as in Canada.

The previous PPA agreed with Statkraft was for 15 years, three years more than the deal relating to the new 50 MW plant. The trend of shortening PPAs – and its potential ramifications for the solar industry – will be discussed in the forthcoming, September edition of pv magazine.