German energy utility company RWE has commenced early construction works at its ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Spain.

With a planned capacity of 10MWac, the Las Vaguadas solar farm is being developed in a site covering 21ha of area, in the Badajoz province, south-west Spain.

The construction works at Las Vaguadas facility include installation of around 20,000 bifacial panels, which is expected to begin in late summer.

RWE Renewables Iberia president and CEO Robert Navarro said: “We are happy to contribute to the energy transition in Spain with our three new solar farms under construction. In total we will install more than 210,000 solar modules.

“Once completed, these projects will make a substantial contribution to reach the local climate targets and will add around 100MW solar capacity to our already strong renewables footprint in Spain.”

In addition to Las Vaguadas, RWE is also building the Casa Valdes and the Puerta del Sol solar projects, each of 44MW, in central Spain.

The German utility is using bifacial high-performance modules at all the three solar plants, with plans to complete the construction works in the first quarter of 2023.

The bifacial cells are embedded in a double-sided glass-module, enabling absorption of the solar radiation from both sides of the module, to increase the production.

Once completed, all three solar farms are expected to produce adequate green electricity to supply the equivalent of 68,000 Spanish homes.

RWE has more than 440MW of operating onshore wind farms in Spain, and along with the solar thermal power station Andasol 3, in the Spanish province of Toledo.

The company’s Alarcos solar farm, located south of the city of Ciudad Real, in the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha.

The ground-mounted solar farm has a total capacity of 45MWac, which is expected to become operational in 2020.

Furthermore, RWE is involved in the floating wind project DemoSATH, which is planned to be launched and commissioned later this year.