Europe’s Largest Solar Plant Planned for Western Spain

(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s largest utility Iberdrola SA and the French food giant Danone SA sealed an accord to build 590 MW-capacity photo-voltaic plant, the largest in Europe.

The 300 million-euro ($364 million) project will be located in the western province of Caceres, Iberdrola said in statement on its website. The utility will provide power to Danone’s 29 supply points for 10 years, starting from April 2022 under a power purchase agreement.

Spain is by far Europe’s busiest subsidy-free photo-voltaic market, and leads the sector’s booming growth in the region, according to a BloombergNEF report. It commissioned 2.9 GW last year, four times the 729 MW of capacity added in 2019.

The plant will avoid the emission of 245,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, Iberdrola said. Danone’s suppliers in Spain, Graham Packaging and Salvesen Logistica, will also join the project, dubbed Francisco Pizarro after the famous Spanish conquistador.

Other Spanish companies have also committed to developing similar projects. In July, oil producer Repsol SA began the construction of its Valdesolar project, a 264-MW photo-voltaic plant with a planned investment of 200 million euros.