Spanish energy giant Iberdrola has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Uvesco Group (BM Supermarcados) to supply 391MW of clean electricity from the Nuñez de Balboa solar plant, which will be located in Usagre (Badajoz-Extremadura).
Image: Planta fotovoltaica de Santiago, en San Luis Potosí in México. Photo: Courtesy of Iberdrola, S.A.
Iberdrola stated that this is the first PPA to have been signed between a power company and a distribution company in Spain.
Iberdrola España CEO Ángeles Santamaria said: “PPAs open up new opportunities for the development of energies that will set the standard for the world’s energy future. Renewables have proven their competitive advantage and their ability to supply power at affordable and stable prices.
“In the long-term, PPAs will rise as an instrumental tool in managing the power supply for large consumers who are committed to achieving green and sustainable consumption.”
With this PPA in place, Uvesco can save more than 26,700 tons of CO2 per year from releasing into the atmosphere, adding to decarbonisation efforts of the economy.
Uvesco Group managing director José Ramón Fernández de Barrena said: “this agreement makes us the leading power company with 100% green energy and will enable us to reduce our environmental footprint, as one of our main commitments to sustainability is precisely to seek alternatives to reduce energy consumption.
“We are a company that is permanently growing and we forecast that we will continue to enlarge our number of stores and so we have also got to grow towards a more sustainable management of our energy.”
The Nuñez de Balboa solar plant was estimated to be built with an investment of $300m. It was originally conceived in 2012. It will include the construction of a substation with a capacity of 30/400kW and a 400kW transmission line which is 12.3km long, pv magazine reported.
The project is claimed to generate nearly 850GWh of clean electricity per year while avoiding 303,450 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
Presently, Iberdrola has an installed capacity of more than 29.5GW across the world, out of which more than 15.8GW are produced in Spain. It has invested more than €95bn in clean energy projects in last 18 years.