Wind power giant Iberdrola and solar project developer Prosolia Energy will jointly invest 850 million euros in five solar parks in Iberia by 2025. The companies are aiming to develop total new capacity of 1.5 gigawatts (GW) by this deal. This will be in four photovoltaic parks in Spain and a mega-plant in Portugal, said the Prosolia Energy executive board member Pedro Pestana Aguiar.
Solar photovoltaic technology captures sunlight and turns it into electrical energy. The company had struck a development agreement with Prosolia. Pestana Aguiar said that with this agreement, Iberdrola reinforces its growth strategy in Portugal. And also, Prosolia Energy advances in its objective to become a reference player in the energy transition in Europe. Iberdrola plans to spend 150 billion euros globally on tripling its renewable capacity by 2030.
Pestana added that the alliance also includes the possibility of collaboration between the two companies in new future projects. Iberdrola will hold 50% of Prosolia’s solar park in Santiago do Cacem. This will be one of the largest in Europe with capacity of over 1.14 GW. Advances in solar technology, regulatory changes and a gathering drive to cut carbon emissions have helped stoke rapid growth in solar installations in Spain.
Iberdrola has about 1.5 GW of renewable capacity installed in Portugal. In this, 1.2 GW is hydroelectric and only 255 megawatts (MW) photovoltaic. Prosolia partnered with Paris-based private equity Omnes Capital in 2020. This partnership is to finance the construction and operation of large-scale renewable projects in Europe. Pestana Aguiar said that the park in Santiago do Cacem could install a 257 MW lithium-ion battery park for storing energy. Developers all over the world are working on battery technology to solve the big problem of solar energy – storing it to be used when the sun doesn’t shine but demand is high.
