Andalusia in the new era of renewable energies

solar panel installation

Una new wave of investments in renewable energies will arrive in Spain over the next few years within which, Extremadura and the southern part of Castilla La Mancha as well as Andalusia they will face the challenge of capitalizing these investments.

Since the “boom” in the national energy sector in 2008 by Zapatero and the reform in 2012 to cut subsidies retroactively by José Manuel Soria, a few years have already passed.

In these 4 years of "paralysis" the panorama worldwide changed radically, especially in the field of PV.

Thanks to the drop in the price of solar panels and the continuous improvement of their performance, the Photovoltaic solar energy has reduced its costs by more than 80%.

For this same reason, in countries such as the United States and China, investments in this type of energy have skyrocketed, so much so that the South of Spain begin to seriously study the project promotion without the need for bonuses or public aid.

Already in the past decade, the subsidy policy promoted photovoltaic plants in Navarra, Galicia or the Basque Country, which translates into areas with less solar radiation and profitability.

Without hardly knowing about the subject at that time, it should be noted that they bet on renewable energies yes, but one very wrong way.

Investments will be concentrated as usual, in areas with a higher index of solar radiation thus guaranteeing a greater efficiency of photovoltaic parks.

Alfonso Vargas, president of Claner says, “There are still some suitable enclaves in Spain to build wind farms, but in the photovoltaic field development must take place in the south of the peninsula "

Premium-free experiments

The first experiment without premiums was carried out in 2016 in a photovoltaic plant starring it They are energy, a Catalan cooperative.

This solar plant as a self-consumption project was built in Alcolea del Rio having 2,15MW of power to which will be added another 2 of 1,5 MW and another of 2 MW in Lora del Río.

Alcolea del Río solar plant

Som Energía members posing at the Alcolea del Río Solar Plant

Small projects give way to large-scale projects

Great initiatives

Currently several operators are processing some projects that could be promoted to short term with government auctions or even without premiums.

Renopool, a Sevillian firm, has requested the necessary permits for the construction on a 2.200 hectare farm (Badajoz) of a 600MW power plant.

Already in the last year they have seen 2 movements in Andalusia.

On the one hand we have Solar Conquest (group of Dutch capital) that bought the rights of Abengoa in order to promote a set of solar parks adding a total of 800 MW.

And on the other hand we have Magtel, which is in the process of processing a series of projects that add up to 1.450MW of power distributed in parks of 50 MW and 250MW.

Solar Conquest

Abengoa at the time had already carried out procedures before the REE (Andalusian Administration and Red Eléctrica de España) for some projects that were paralyzed after the reform of José Manuel Soria.

They could install with the rights obtained more than 500MW with solar thermal technology in Seville.

Now the dutch firm what he is doing is adapt these projects to the new circumstances that the electricity market is in, in turn proposing a change in the typology of the facilities consisting of eliminate solar thermal and replace it with photovoltaic technology.

This would increase the capacity to achieve a power of about 800 MW or more in these parks.

On its website Conquista Solar indicates, “the new regulation of the electricity sector in Spain has brought a new model for the generation of electricity from renewables, which is characterized by the absence of fixed rates.

The final price of energy "is determined by the wholesale market in which the supply curve matches the demand curve, and thus the rate is obtained, as a result of the sale without any distortion that breaks the full free equilibrium. market".

So under these conditions Seville can have some 800 MW photovoltaic highly profitable.

"Thanks to the high solar radiation that exists in Andalusia and the significant reduction in the costs of the main components of photovoltaic systems, economically sustainable projects can be developed, which do not require any premium or government aid," he remarks on his website, where indicates that "being able to sell the electricity production generated by these parks at current prices in the electricity market, it would be possible to obtain a higher profitability than that of conventional generation sources."

Magtel

Magtel solar parks can perfectly exceed the 1.000 millones de euros y do and all the necessary procedures to obtain the rights of about 500 MW It only remains to wait for the 1.000 MW remaining which, as they estimate, should be ready for october.

Problems in Andalusia

The main problem that is located in Andalusia It is undoubtedly that this autonomous community is part of a infrastructure deficit for the development of renewable projects.

Alfonso Vargas remarks that, “Those who criticize that there is an imbalance in provinces such as Almería, Jaén and Granada are right; the famous Caparacena-Baza-La Ribina axis is more than necessary to evacuate the energy to the general network of future renewable projects ”.


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  1.   Josep said

    The shoemaker policy created a great distortion in the photovoltaic market and time has taken away his reason, but after costing us how many millions of €?

    1.    Daniel Palomino said

      I don't know the exact figure Josep but you are absolutely right, Spain has had a very bad time because of some politicians who have no idea what they are doing, wasting time and money that we will never see again.

      A greeting and thanks for comment.

  2.   Alejandro said

    Hello,
    So is it really worth studying or training as a photovoltaic solar panel installer and installer? Being from Andalusia?
    It is a sea of ​​doubts !!

    1.    Daniel Palomino said

      Hello Alejandro, of course it is worth having training for the installation of solar panels, renewable energies are becoming more and more powerful and it is the safe bet for the future.

      Now, personally, you have to keep an open mind and think that in Andalusia you will have little work, at least currently, and that you should go abroad, going further to the north of Spain or especially outside of it.

      I hope I've been helpful. A greeting.