Solar Global is thriving in Spain. The first photovoltaic project will start construction this year

Solar Global is thriving in Spain. The first photovoltaic project will start construction this year

Last week, Solar Global Group received construction permits for its first photovoltaic power plant project in Spain. The company will build the 1 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar panels in the municipality of Novelda in the province of Alicante. If Solar Global obtains the construction permit in time, it will start building five more photovoltaic projects in the province of Alicante by the end of next year. And another nineteen projects are in various stages of development. But their completion date depends on the Spanish authorities, whose work has been hampered by, among other things, the covid-19 pandemic.

"After a successful push in the Polish solar wave and the restart of larger solar projects in the Czech Republic, Solar Global Group is also doing well in Spain. Conditions on the Iberian Peninsula are extremely favourable for photovoltaics. We believe that we will follow up the first solar parks with the construction of more in the expected volume of at least tens of megawatts," comments Vítězslav Skopal, Chairman of the Board and founder of Solar Global, on the first Spanish solar project.

"At the Novelda site, we are currently organizing the construction, updating the bids of the construction companies, reordering the remaining materials and synchronizing the deadlines. If we manage to start construction in November, we have a realistic chance of putting the plant into operation in the first quarter of 2023," adds Vítězslav Skopal with details on the start of construction.

Another five PV projects in the province of Alicante are at an advanced enough stage of preparation to give the company a chance of obtaining construction permits by the middle of next year, and construction could then start by the end of 2023. The projects, with a total capacity of 5.4 MWp, will be built in Tolomo (1 MWp), Pomares (1 MWp), Polseguera (1 MWp), Algayat (1 MWp) and Fuente Loca (1.4 MWp).

The remaining nineteen projects in various stages of development will supply 33 MWp of clean energy to the Spanish grid when completed. In addition to Alicante, they will be located in the provinces of Valencia, Cadiz and Seville. "Photovoltaics are a key part of Spain's climate protection plan. Solar projects have been thriving here in recent years and the government there is counting on further development as part of its drive to boost the share of renewables. We therefore see a great opportunity in our continued presence in Spain," added Vítězslav Skopal.

Spain has half the luminosity of the Czech Republic

The Solar Global Group decided to expand into Spain mainly because of the favourable solar conditions that prevail in this part of Europe. The luminosity in the south of the Iberian Peninsula reaches up to 1,900 kWh/m2. In the south of the Czech Republic, by comparison, it is only 1 200 kWh/m2.

"Although the Czech Republic offers generally good conditions for installing solar power plants, the sun in the south of Spain has up to half the luminosity of the Czech Republic. And higher luminosity means, of course, higher production of photovoltaic systems, which in Spain produce even half as much clean energy as on the same area in the Czech Republic. Better conditions are guaranteed, in particular, by the fact that there are more sunny days throughout the year in these provinces. The south of Spain is a very suitable location, the sun is high above the horizon, so we can tilt the panels to the sun's rays at an ideal angle and still use the area without unnecessary spacing," adds Michal Vašourek, a member of Solar Global Iberia's supervisory board.

The Spanish specificity is that the various regional projects in Spain are centrally approved by the Office of Industry, Energy and Mines, which is always common within an autonomous region. In the case of Alicante, for example, this is the Community of Valencia. The approval process for each project at this authority used to be very lengthy, but nowadays, also due to the energy crisis, the process has been considerably streamlined, reducing the time taken to obtain an opinion to a few months. And only after the positive opinion of this "super office" the project will be examined by the local building authority, which will issue the final building permit. "That's such a detail, in the case of Novelda we got the final building permit within two weeks. But the 'super authority' approval took more than a year," adds Michal Vašourek about the first Spanish experience.

Interesting facts about photovoltaics in Spain:

•   In 2022, the total solar capacity was 16,000 megawatts, roughly 4 times more than in 2010.
•   by 2030, the capacity of photovoltaics could grow to 72,000 megawatts

Contact us for more information:

Adam Veselý, Graphic Solar Global Development, E: vesely@solarglobal.cz  T: +420 606 068 980