The plants are co-located within an eight-kilometre radius of each other in the Cadiz region with a total capacity of 234 MWp. Statkraft has a large solar pipeline in Spain, helping the country meet its ambitious electrification and climate targets, including the development of 3 GW of solar power per year until 2030 set out in their National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).
Statkraft will be the EPC contractor for the construction of the project and is also expected to carry out operations and maintenance (O&M) and asset management services for the project for an initial term of 10 years.
Since it entered the Iberian market in 2018, the Norwegian-owned company has become an active player in the development of renewable energy, community development and job creation in Spain.
In December 2020, Statkraft (then operating under Solarcentury) gained construction permits for three of the four planned solar farms, Malabrigo, El Yarte and Arenosas. The fourth, La Guita, has environmental permits and is in the process of receiving a final construction permit decision (due July 2021).
A local employment agreement has been entered into with the San José del Valle town council in association with three of these plants. This agreement includes the development of a training and employment promotion plan and will see 500 employment opportunities created during the peak of the construction phase.
“I’m happy that we’ve committed to investing in the entire construction of these four new solar plants in Cadiz” said Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal, Executive Vice President European Wind and Solar at Statkraft. Our recent acquisition of Solarcentury in November 2020 further positioned Spain as a major market for Statkraft’s solar footprint going forward and the company’s overall strategy is to develop 8 GW of solar and wind power by 2025. Solar projects in Spain, like these four farms in Cadiz, will play an important role in Statkraft’s efforts to achieve this”.
José Miguel Ferrer, Country Manager for Statkraft in Spain, added that the project seeks to mirror the success of key Spanish solar projects that have already been delivered by Statkraft (formerly Solarcentury) such as Talayuela – one of the biggest solar projects in Europe.
“When we commit to large developments, we focus on three areas of benefit: local jobs, community support and improved biodiversity” said Mr Ferrer. “Statkraft’s key objective with the development of these four co-located plants is to contribute to making clean energy more widely available within our country whilst simultaneously improving the quality of life of the municipalities in which our developments are located”.
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