Spain

While Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and Brazil attracted more funds than last year, China’s transition to an auction-based procurement system and slow performance overall in Europe saw worldwide backing decrease. BloombergNEF does expect investments to ramp up in the second half, however.

Traditional power Germany and a rejuvenated Spain will top the chart for new capacity additions as Europe prepares to hit more than 250 GW of new PV by 2024. Small scale systems for self-consumption will play a big role, according to consultants WoodMac.

The project, in its preliminary development phase, should reach a total generation capacity of around 800 MW. The two solar parks that will make up the Castilla-La Mancha project would each have a 400 MW capacity.

To be commissioned in 2022, the giant solar plant will be built on a 1,300-hectare surface in the municipal areas of Torrecillas de la Tiesa and Aldeacentenera, near Caceres, in the Spanish southern region of Extremadura.

At Intersolar Europe, Gamesa Electric’s solar sales director, Enrique de la Cruz explained the key to ensuring high reliability and a low energy price with the company’s new central inverter offering.

The modules will be used by U.K. developer Solarcentury for its Cabrera and Talayuela Solar projects in southern Spain.

At the end of May 2018, events in Spanish politics took a turn without precedent since the country embraced democracy: a motion of censure against the conservative PP (Partido Popular) by an all-but unified opposition received 180 votes in favour, 169 votes against, and 1 abstention. Pedro Sánchez, leader of the socialist PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español), took up the post of Prime Minister that Mariano Rajoy had held for the previous six years. For the PV sector, the change could not have come too soon.

Leading representatives of the European solar industry have issued a call for a new industrial strategy ahead of the European Commission’s upcoming proposals for the sector, which are expected this summer.

Spain’s Holaluz has agreed to buy electricity from up to 500 MW of solar capacity that China’s Chint Energy plans to build in Spain. The investment has been estimated at roughly €350 million.

The Spanish developer’s operating revenues reached €12.5 million in the first quarter of 2019, up roughly 35% from the preceding three-month period. EBITDA stood at €4.5 million, up 14% from the fourth quarter of 2018, suggesting that the company has been moving from strength to strength since listing its shares in December.