Spain

The Spanish government has published the auction timeline and the amount of capacity it intends to allocate. Several renewable energy technologies will compete in the tender.

The independent power producer is now the owner of the Vela Portfolio, which amounts to 136 MW of solar PV capacity across 43 Spanish sites, and has been sold by Centerbridge Partners.

In 2016, Spain’s solar development was driven by grid-connected PV systems for self-consumption and stand-alone systems for agricultural use.

Independent solar power producer Sonnedix has continued its flurry of activity into 2017 with an agreement to purchase 136 MW of operational solar power plants from Centerbridge Partners in Spain, which will see its global capacity reach almost 500 MW.

The winning projects must be operational by 31 December 2019.

Update from SolarPower Europe reveals that the continent installed 1.56 GW in the months from June to September, a 10% decline on Q3 2015. First nine months of the year saw 5.3 GW installed, a decline of 18%.

Spain and France have interconnected a new grid line that doubles the electricity exchange between the two countries. With a power capacity of 2 GW and capable of reversing the direction of flow of the energy exchanges between Spain and France in just 50 milliseconds, the new line is expected to boost renewable energy.

Spanish electricity grid operator Red Eléctrica de España (REE) announced on Wednesday the construction of a 126-kilometer long cable interconnecting the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Ibiza. The project can potentially benefit PV, which now lags behind in the sun-washed islands of the Mediterranean Sea, but this will require time.