The plant located in the Cáceres town of Cedillo, Spain, is capable of supplying 178,000 homes with clean, indigenous energy that will avoid the consumption of 97 million cubic metres of gas per year
Iberdrola obtains environmental permit for 375MW PV plant. (Credit: Iberdrola, S.A.)
Spanish electric utility Iberdrola has obtained the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to build a new 375MW photovoltaic (PV) solar project in the town of Cedillo in Cáceres.
The environmental studies have been carried out by Ecoenergías del Guadiana, a solar energy equipment supplier based in Badajoz, southwest Spain.
The proposed solar project is planned to be built on a communal farm owned by the local residents, who will maintain their livestock activity on the land.
It will feature more than 576,000 bifacial photovoltaic modules, which have two light-sensitive surfaces for enhanced production.
The Cedillo solar project will have adequate capacity to power 178,000 homes with clean energy and will offset 77,000 tonnes of CO2 emission per annum.
Its construction is expected to create up to 800 new jobs during peak periods and will see participation from local suppliers.
Iberdrola stated: “Iberdrola plans to set up the first solar community in Spain for an entire village in this municipality. Thanks to this initiative, all the inhabitants of this town will enjoy savings of 50% on their electricity bills.
“To this end, the company will install small photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 340kW on the roofs of municipal facilities and on land provided by the City Council.
“Iberdrola will assume the total investment for the assembly and management of this collective self-consumption system, which will be put into operation at the beginning of 2023.”
The energy produced at the solar plant will be supplied through an encapsulated substation, which also serves two other solar plants and a hydroelectric plant in the same region.
Its infrastructure, which occupies only 300m2 of land, will be manufactured in Italy and transported in containers weighing more than 50 tonnes.
Energy equipment provider Faramax will supply the transformers, and local construction company IMEDEXSA will provide towers for the evacuation power line.
The 375MW new Cedillo PV plant is part of the 12 other photovoltaic projects totalling 630MW, the company is currently executing in Spain.
Earlier this month, Iberdrola signed an agreement with Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) to divest a 49% stake in its Wikinger offshore wind farm in Germany.