The PPA has been signed for the 50MW Don Rodrigo 2 solar project, which is expected to be completed end of the year

BayWa Re

Image: BayWa’s Don Rodrigo solar plant in Spain. Photo: Courtesy of BayWa r.e. renewable energy GmbH.

German manufacturing company BayWa r.e. and Norwegian energy company Statkraft have signed a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 50MW Don Rodrigo 2 solar project located near Seville, in the south of Spain.

BayWa has begun construction of the solar plant, which is situated on 162 hectares of land. It is less than 3km away from the Don Rodrigo solar park which was the first subsidy-free utility scale PV plant in Europe.

Less than a year after the first solar plant was completed, BayWa started Don Rodrigo 2’s construction. It is expected to generate about 100GWh of solar energy every year, which is equivalent of annual energy consumption of around 30,000 Spanish households.

BayWa solar projects global director Benedikt Ortmann said: “With Don Rodrigo 2 we continue to forge ahead with subsidy-free solar in Europe. Soon, we will have delivered yet another proven grid-parity project, as we continue to execute on our existing pipeline in Spain. We’re very proud to be leading the way for grid-parity in Spain and Europe. But this is just beginning.

“We are proactively looking for other projects and developers to work with in Spain and Portugal and are excited about further opportunities for subsidy free projects in Europe – solar power has truly come of age.”

Starkraft signed PPA for the two wind farms

Signing of the PPA for Don Rodrigo 2 will advance Statkraft’s commitment to become one of the major providers of renewable energy in Spain.

The company had also signed a 15-year PPA for the first Don Rodrigo solar plant, which is a 174MW solar facility, located on 265 hectares of land in the municipalities of Utrera and Alcala de Guadaira.

Statkraft Markets & IT executive vice president Hallvard Granheim said: “We are proud to continue our cooperation with one of the leading project developers and thus contribute to the further development of renewable assets in Spain.

“We will use the power to foster our leading position in green energy supply to major industrial customers in the Iberian market.”