Spain

A few days after the Spanish government introduced new rules for self-consumption and canceled the solar tax, the Spanish Parliament is now reviewing new provisions to reduce the time frame of the registration for a project under the self-consumption regime, while also simplifying bureaucratic procedures.

The Talayuela plant will be built by British developer Solarcentury in the region of Extremadura and will sell electricity under a PPA contract.

The Spanish Cabinet has approved a royal decree, which introduces a package of urgent measures to boost the country’s energy transition. It includes the already announced elimination of the “sun tax”, and other important measures, such as compliance with renewable energy objectives, electric vehicle adoption, reduced electricity prices, a social bonus for heating, consumer protection measures, and the extension of an electric social bond.

Looking at a scenario, in which the Spanish residential solar market is booming again, energy consultancy, ecoSynergies finds that the energy system could save billions, both in terms of CO2, and fuel and grid costs. Additionally, introducing the EU’s suggestion to fairly compensate prosumers for their surplus energy, would allow households to slash payback times for their solar systems by more than a half. In some cases, the amortization period could go down from 25 to seven years.

pv magazine interviewed Ricardo Arias González, who holds a PhD in Physical Sciences and introduced the Optical Tweezers applied to biology in Spain. It is one of the tools of photonics for which Arthur Ashkin received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou.

Unlike its three previous funds, which focused on plants in operation, the Spanish asset manager will raise €300 million for the construction of plants without subsidies.

The Spanish power and gas provider has started construction on two 50 MW solar plants near Ciudad Real, in the southern region of Castile–La Mancha. The projects are part of the 250 MW pipeline it secured in the government’s renewable energy auction held in July.

The technology is said to use blockchain’s properties of providing secure real-time and fully transparent data. The company says that ensuring renewable energy certificates is becoming increasingly important. This is the first step towards a more comprehensive platform that seeks to cover renewable energy assets from other energy companies as well.

New measures under preparation by the Spanish government include the setting of a calendar for new auctions, elimination of the solar tax and support for community solar and PV irrigation projects. Spanish developer X-Elio has secured a PPA for two 50 MW solar projects in the southern region of Murcia.

The subsidy free mega project is entering the next stage of its development. Funding is expected to be finalized in 4Q 2018 and commissioning in 2020. The project, funded by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) will retail its electricity on the spot market, but will be secured through a financial hedge.