Spain installed 3.2 GW of solar last year

From pv magazine Spain.

Spain deployed 4,639 MW of new renewable energy capacity in 2020, of which 3,256 MW was for photovoltaic installations, according to Spanish renewable energy association APPA Renovables.

Of the solar power installed last year, 623 MW corresponded to self-consumption facilities, which is a greater amount than the 596 MW indicated by Spanish PV trade body UNEF at the end of January, and 2,633 MW come from utility scale solar facilities.

For comparison, in 2019, new renewable energy capacity had totaled 7,177 MW and solar had a share of 3.97 GW. Most of that capacity was represented by the 3 GW of solar projects that the Spanish government had allocated in the auction held in 2017, for which the grid-connection deadline was December 31, 2019. As for last year, by contrast, large scale solar power that came online in 2020 was made mostly of unsubsidized solar projects under private power purchase agreements.

The largest of these projects is the 300 MW Talasol PV project developed by Israeli company Ellomay, and Iberdrola’s 500 MW (590 MWac) Núñez de Balboa project in Usagre, near Badajoz.

The country’s cumulative PV capacity reached approximately 11 GW at the end of December.