Spain

In what is the largest ever energy grant to be issued by the EU, France and Spain’s interconnection capabilities are to be boosted to 5 GW once an undersea cable across the Bay of Biscay is finalized.

The Spain-headquartered EPC has submitted a proposal for approval to build a solar park in Mérida, in the region of Extremadura.

The government of the Castilla-La Mancha region has also provided around €320,000 in incentives for small and middle-sized enterprises that install wind and solar power generators.

The new 300 MW project is being planned by U.K.-based Solarcentury, Spanish developer Genia Global Energy, and France’s Canopy.

The solar project Planta Solar Núñez de Balboa, which was originally developed in 2012, is expected to sell power on the Spanish spot market.

The 549 MW PV facility will be built by Spanish industrial group ACS on 2,369 hectares of land, spread across the municipalities of Escatrón and Chiprana. The project was selected by the Spanish government in this year’s second renewable energy auction, in which around 3.9 GW of solar power was allocated.

The scheme has been in place since 2014 and includes new projects as well as renewable energy power projects benefitting from previous support.

Spanish inverter supplier Ingeteam is taking part in a research program deploying drones to inspect existing PV power plants, to spot the causes of underperformance. The SCARAB project is headed by the company and has been provided with almost €650,000 (AU$980,000) in funding from the Spanish government.

José Donoso, the president of Madrid-based solar association UNEF, recently spoke to pv magazine about Spain’s latest renewable energy auction, under which 3.9 GW of solar was allocated. He also talked about the spot market, private PPAs and the ways in which future auctions can facilitate the further development of large-scale solar.

Spain’s Ministry of Energy has given German PV developer Juwi final approval to build 450 MW of solar capacity in southern Spain.