Iberdrola has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Spanish lender Grupo Kutxabank to supply renewable energy from its 391MW Nuñez de Balboa solar project in Spain.
Image: Iberdrola’s solar plant. Photo: Courtesy of Iberdrola, S.A.
To be built in Usagre (Badajoz-Extremadura), Iberdrola’s solar project will have a capacity of 391MW and will be considered to be the largest photovoltaic (PV) project in Europe upon completion.
Iberdrola stated the agreement has become the first contract in the world of this kind to be signed between an energy company and a bank.
The PPA will allow Grupo Kutxabank to use renewable electricity exclusively for all of its banking premises and branches across the country. The renewable energy will help the bank avoid nearly 15,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, contributing to the country’s decarbonisation strategy.
Kutxabank said: “The agreement represents another step for Kutxabank in its ongoing efforts to mitigate its carbon footprint from a business activity where the impact is only very small because of its very nature, but which it also seeks to offset with an array of different initiatives.”
Till now, Iberdrola claims to have an installed capacity of nearly 30GW out of which more than 15.8GW is in Spain. It claims to have invested more than €95bn in clean energy in the past 18 years.
Iberdrola plans to invest a further €32bn up to 2022, out of which 37% have been marked for developing renewable projects. Last year, the company earned revenues of €31.263bn and net profit of €2.804bn.
The group operates in many countries and supplies power to around 100 million people, mainly in Spain, the UK (ScottishPower), the US (Avangrid), Brazil (Neoenergia) and Mexico.
Earlier this month, Iberdrola secured €650m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to build three new dams, hydropower plants including a pumped storage plant across Tâmega and Torno rivers in Portugal.
The total investment for the hydropower plants and the dams is expected to be nearly €1.5bn and they will have a total capacity of 1.15GW. The hydropower plants are expected to begin operations by 2023.