Spain

Spain’s Tranesol is setting up two energy communities that will be powered by 2.5 MW of agrivoltaics. The two facilities will be located in the Valencian Community, which is at the forefront for supporting projects for solar power sharing.

Solar pioneer Thierry Lepercq spoke with pv magazine about recent plans of the HyDeal consortium to deploy 95 GW of solar and 67 GW of hydrogen capacity in southern Europe by 2030. Record low green hydrogen prices are easily achievable as solar PV has already reached the required cost level and effects of scale in procurement and manufacturing of electrolyzer capacities will help reduce production costs, he says. Lepercq is also convinced that the consortium will begin selling solar-powered hydrogen at €1.5/kg when the initial supply to industrial customers begins in September 2022.

According to Spain’s renewable energy association, APPA Renovables, of the solar capacity deployed last year, 623 MW was for distributed generation PV and 2,633 MW came from utility scale solar plants.

A total of 30 major companies from across Europe are laying the foundations to create HyDeal Ambition, a value chain promising to provide 100% green hydrogen for €1.5/kg by 2030, matching the current price of fossil-fuel produced ‘grey’ hydrogen.

Spanish companies Repsol and Ibil have launched the first charging station for electric vehicles with energy storage. The system reuses batteries from electric buses.

Abengoa Innovación has completed the construction of the pilot plant for the Grasshopper project, which is in the commissioning and start-up phase in Seville. The plant will be then transferred to its final location – the Netherlands.

The product is available both with monocrystalline and CIGS solar cells and is claimed to be the world’s largest solar tile with dimensions of 457 x 510 mm.

The expedition to Manaslu Peak (8,163m) in Nepal, led by Alex Txikon, will not consume a single liter of fossil fuels thanks to two portable photovoltaic installations. The initiative is being promoted by Eki, a foundation created by Spanish solar company Solarpack and supported by the Basque Energy Agency (EVE).

The Spanish power utility announced it wants to deploy 23 green hydrogen projects by 2024. The company plans to build around 340 MW of electrolyzer capacity.

Around 569 MW of new PV systems were installed last year under the country’s rules for self-consumption. Around 56% of this capacity was deployed in the industrial segment, while commercial installations had a 23% share.