STEAG solar power continues to grow under the Spanish sun
Würzburg/Almeria. In the sunny country of Spain photovoltaics is to be given a massive boost - this was the goal set at the end of 2018 by the Spanish government, which then created the legal framework for its implementation. Würzburg’s STEAG Solar Energy Solutions (SENS) GmbH, part of the STEAG Group since the summer of 2019, is supporting this strategic course towards a green energy future and is now once again involved in a major photovoltaic project in the south of Spain.
In the Andalusian region of Almeria four ground-mounted solar parks with a total installed capacity of 180 megawatts (MWp) are to be constructed under the project name "Tinosa". This continues the successful development of the Madrid-based SENS subsidiary STEAG Solar Energy Solutions Iberica. The contract includes the planning and construction of turnkey installations and the associated 220 kilovolt (kV) grid connection. The PV parks will be built in a consortium with the project developer Aurinka International.
Start of construction summer and autumn 2020
If the measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic permit this, construction of the first solar park will start in the second quarter of 2020. Two further parks are expected to follow in the autumn of this year, with construction work on the last section scheduled to start in the spring of 2021. Thanks to the geographical location of the sites, the yield forecasts are extremely promising. The plants will feed a total of over 380,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity into the grid each year. In purely mathematical terms, this is roughly equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of almost 110,000 households.
Experienced in the Spanish market
The experts at SENS are not unfamiliar with the Spanish market - on the contrary, the company has been operating there since 2007 in both engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting and in operation and maintenance. Since 2018 SENS has also placed a strong focus on its own development of PV projects: "We have always believed in the market, even in the difficult times, and are now all the more pleased that developments are picking up speed again," says SENS Managing Director André Kremer.
The Spanish market for renewable energies has seen a lot of change since the relevant royal decree was issued in 2018. Far-reaching liberalisation and the ambitious goals of the National Energy and Climate Plan have made a significant contribution to making the market more dynamic.
Further representative office opened in Madrid
SENS is also experiencing this growing demand both in the key account business and in the industrial customer sector, as well as in the internal-consumption field. In addition to EPC contracts, the company is currently also working on its own developments. SENS has recently strengthened its Spanish base with a further office in Seville, and the local team is growing steadily. Looking towards the future André Kremer states: "We are delighted to be able to continue our Iberian success story with this new project. At the moment, further projects are coming up and we expect to have installed around 500 MW in Spain by the end of 2021 - mostly based on our own developments”.
