Prosolia Energy and Iberdrola announced on September 22 that they have entered into an agreement to jointly invest EUR 850 million in setting up five PV projects in Spain and Portugal by 2025. Pedro Pestana Aguiar, an executive board member of Prosolia, told Reuters that four of the projects will be located in Spain and each have a generation capacity of 360MW. The fifth project will be located in Portugal and have a generation capacity of 1,140MW. Aguiar pointed out that Portugal will almost double its current PV generation capacity with the addition of that one project.
The 1,140MW project will be built in Santiago do Cacém, a municipality 200km south of the capital Lisbon. Prosolia and Iberdrola will each own a 50% stake in the project. Besides the PV power plant, the project could also integrate a 257MW energy storage plant that deploys lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, Prosolia told news agencies and energy news websites that the development permit application and environment impact study have begun for the project. Regarding the amount of capital that will be injected into the project, Prosolia told news website ECO (Portuguese Economy) that “it is still premature” to provide an exact amount since the energy storage plant is still under consideration. In a statement sent to PV Magazine, Prosolia indicated that Tesla batteries may be adopted.
Further details on the other four projects in Spain have yet to be revealed. According to Reuters, Aguiar said that from the basis of this agreement, Prosolia and Iberdrola could collaborate on other renewable energy projects in the future. Aguiar added that with this partnership, Iberdrola will expand its presence in the Portuguese market while Prosolia will have greater access to the wider European market. Hence, their goals are complementary. Based in Spain, Iberdrola is a multinational energy company. It is the world’s third largest utility by market capitalization and also the second largest wind energy developer after Ørsted by revenue. As for Prosolia, it is a Portuguese company that develops various types of PV projects and provides EPC services. In 2019, Prosolia won a 29MW tender in a major PV auction held by the Spanish government.