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Clean Power Solar photovoltaic Spain

Published on April 19th, 2013 | by James Ayre

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250 MW, Unsubsidized Solar PV Power Plant Planned For Western Spain

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April 19th, 2013 by  

Plans for a 250 MW solar photovoltaic plant to be built in the autonomous region of western Spain known as Extremadura were recently approved by the local government there. The power plant, as with all new solar power plants in Spain, will be unsubsidized.

Solar photovoltaic Spain

Image Credit: Solar Field In Spain via Shutterstock

The exact location will be in the Royanejos municipality. The local media there have reported that that the French company Dhamma Energy is behind the project.

Before the project can move further, the necessary environmental and administrative permits still need to be obtained. The project is predicted to support at least 500 jobs (most during construction), with about 70 permanent positions amongst those. Total investment is predicted to be about €270 million.

At 250 MW, the solar PV power plant would be the 3rd-largest in the world (or the 2nd-largest if you don’t count the Gujarat Solar Park’s various solar projects as one combined power plant). Spain’s largest on the list is currently 60 MW Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park (#15), but the country does sport some of the largest solar thermal power plants in the world —  the 250 MW “Solnova Solar Power Station” in Seville, Spain (#2) and the 150 MW “Andasol Solar Power Station” in Granada, Spain (#3).

The city of Extremadura, like much of Spain, has great potential for solar energy generation, thanks to the more than 3,200 hours of sunshine that the region receives every year.

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About the Author

's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.


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  • t

    MMmmm and the city of Extremadura is where exactly!

  • Leslie Graham

    Wow! That’s amazingly cheap. I knew solar costs were dropping but didn’t realise it was cheaper than coal.

    • Bob_Wallace

      $1.41/watt.

    • Ronald Brakels

      Traditional coal plants are now dead, even without a carbon price, pretty much everywhere. Unfortunately solar is only cheaper than new coal power. In Australia the marginal cost of producing a kilowatt-hour of electricity from an existing coal plant is only a fraction of a cent. Fortunately we were smart enough (okay, lucky enough) to introduce a carbon price that helps get around this problem. But this is still great news. We’re not anywhere near the end of the struggle to stabilize the climate, but once utility scale solar is built at this price it will be the end of the beginning.

  • tibi stibi

    €270 million for 250 Mw is nice!!

  • Ronald Brakels

    Using the usual 5% discount rate it will produce electricity at a cost of about 7.5 cents a kilowatt-hour. However, thanks to Europe’s poor economy it should cost less than this.

    • Ronald Brakels

      Sorry, at $1.41 US a watt, a 5% discount rate and 1,500 kilowatt-hours a year per kilowatt of capacity at this sunny location it actually comes to about 6 cents a kilowatt-hour. That’s quite an achievement.

      • Bob_Wallace

        We should now hear shrieks of horror from the fossil fuel industry.

        2013 may be the year they meet their Waterloo….

        • Ronald Brakels

          Well, even in Australia they’re still maintaining their “Ho, ho, ho, you can’t be serious, nothing can replace fossil fuels,” front, aided by the fact this is what many elderly people in Thomas the Tank Engine Clubs (boards of directors), actually believe. While this front seems to have helped them maintain the support of conservative politicians, behind the scenes they have been squealing for a long time as residential demand for electricity falls and gigawatts of coal capacity have been put into mothballs. The Extremadurda solar farm has yet to be built, but given the current low cost of solar panels and Spain’s solar industry experience, I don’t see why they can’t do it for about $1.41 a watt, giving six cents a kilowatt-hour electricity.

          • Bob_Wallace

            We can look back at steel companies, typewriter manufacturers, and other industry leaders who refused to evolve and died.

            Their choice….

      • arne-nl

        Not even that is the case.

        This is a CSP plant, meaning it must be on trackers. That increases the genenerated power quite considerably. In the extremely sunny region of Extremadura, you’re looking at more than 2000 kWh per kWp per year. That brings the price to less than 5 cent per kWh.

        • Bill_Woods

          The article says “PV” repeatedly. Not that Google has anything, besides variations on this article….

  • Dimitar Mirchev

    Will it recieve subsidies?

    If not this should be the title of the artile :)

    • James Wimberley

      Spain abandoned all its solar subsidies in response to the financial crisis.

    • Leslie Graham

      No – solar in Spain doesn’t get subsidies. Coal and oil do however.
      Globaly, coal and oil are subsidised by around $520 Billion per year.

    • http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

      Thanks for the note. Sorry for the delay. Updated the title, and will be sure to highlight that in future stories about the power plant. :D

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