Iberdrola has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell electricity from what is claims will be Europe’s largest PV plant to French food group Danone.
The PPA will drive the development of the 590MW Francisco Pizarro project, which will be developed in Spain’s Extremadura region and cost the Spanish utility €300 million to build.
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For Danone, the deal means that 100% of the renewable electricity used in its plants and factories in Spain will come from the solar project. Two of the company’s suppliers in the country have also joined the alliance.
The agreement will see Iberdrola provide green energy to 29 supply points in Danone in Spain for ten years from April 2022, totalling 73GWh per year. Danone will complete its green energy supply with another annual energy contract with Iberdrola up to 104GWh per year.
Ángeles Santamaría, CEO of Iberdrola España, said long-term PPAs “have become the perfect tool” for the management of electricity supply for large consumers. “These agreements demonstrate the competitiveness of renewables and their ability to supply energy at affordable and stable prices.”
Iberdrola put forward plans for the Francisco Pizarro project in 2019. The company said more than 1,200 workers will be involved in developing the installation, which is expected to be operational in 2022, when it will overtake the firm’s 500MW Núñez de Balboa solar farm to become Europe’s largest PV plant. The utility recently announced its largest-ever investment package, as it looks to reach 16GW of installed solar capacity by 2025 and become carbon neutral in Europe by 2030.
Spain was found to be a leading market for PPAs in the fourth quarter of 2020 in newly published research from LevelTen Energy. In its Q4 PPA Price Index, the company said COVID-19 had a minimal impact on PPA offer prices, and predicted that demand from governments and corporations will continue to surge in Europe this year.
