The Spanish region of Catalonia is buying solar power plants – SPE

By pv magazine Spain

Energètica, the Catalan public renewable energy company, has opened the first process for purchasing renewable energy projects through a public tender procedure. All interested companies can participate.

The Catalan government’s renewable energy company plans to allocate up to €10 million ($10.2 million) to purchase ground-mounted solar farms with a combined capacity of up to 5 MW.

The government company will give priority to new construction projects. The selection criteria will give priority to the minimum costs and social acceptance of the municipality where the project is planned.

The Catalan government will also evaluate whether the project includes an energy community, contributes to the self-sufficiency of municipal energy consumption, takes measures to reduce its impact on the environment, integrates hybridization with storage facilities and uses components produced in the European Union. Priority will also be given to projects that ensure a balanced territorial distribution, taking into account network capacity constraints.

The connection point must have been assigned for projects. L’Energètica will invest no less than €100,000 per project in third-party solar parks and must acquire at least 5% of the shares.

Companies interested in participating must submit their bids before July 31. The selected projects will undergo due diligence before purchase to confirm their technical, economic and legal feasibility.

Energètica (Energies Renovables Públiques de Catalunya, SAU) started in March last year, with the aim of decarbonizing all the electricity consumed by the region’s government. The main goal for 2040 is to supply all public services of the Generalitat de Catalunya with local energy, which will require more than 1,000 MW of renewable energy. In its first year, L’Energètica has built up a generation capacity of 19 MW and more than 50 projects under construction or in the pipeline.