RWE Is Making Good Progress In Expanding Its Solar Business In Europe

Katja Wünschel, COO Wind Onshore & Solar PV Europe & APAC of RWE Renewables, stated “Spain is one of our core markets, which offers good wind and especially solar locations. The country is seeing continued expansion of renewables and we are happy to contribute to the energy transition in Spain with our two new ground-mounted solar farms.”

Katja Wünschel adds, “Once completed in 2022, these projects will further strengthen our already strong renewables footprint in Spain, as well as our global solar portfolio."

High-performance modules

RWE is making good progress in expanding its solar business in Europe. Having recently commissioned its first ground-mounted solar farm in the Netherlands, the company is now realizing two new solar projects in Spain.

The solar farms - Casa Valdes and Puerta del Sol are located in the Province of Guadalajara, close to Madrid. Both solar farms will have a capacity of 44 megawatts (MWac) each. Early construction works were already kicked-off and full commissioning is expected in summer 2022.

For both solar projects, RWE will use innovative, bifacial high-performance modules. The advantage: The bifacial cells are embedded in a double-sided glass-module by which the solar radiation can be absorbed from both sides - the front and the back of the module.

Small hydropower plants

The bifacial technology will help us to increase the production of the 190,000 modules"

“The bifacial technology will help us to increase the production of the 190,000 modules, which our teams will install,” explains Robert Navarro, President and Managing Director of RWE Renewables Iberia.

He adds, “After full commissioning our solar farms will be able to supply the equivalent of approximately 61,000 Spanish homes with green electricity and will make a substantial contribution to reach the local climate targets.”

RWE has gained considerable experience in Spain and already operates onshore wind farms with a total capacity of more than 440 MW, as well as small hydropower plants in the country. The company is also involved in a photovoltaic plant in the Spanish province of Toledo and in the solar thermal power station - Andasol 3. 

Constructing photovoltaic plants

Furthermore, RWE’s ground-mounted solar farm Alarcos went into operation last year. This solar farm has a capacity of 45 MWac and is located south of the city of Ciudad Real in the Autonomous Community Castilla-La Mancha.

RWE has an operational renewables portfolio with an installed capacity of more than 9 gigawatts (GW) and is currently constructing photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 1.2 GW worldwide. In terms of further investments in solar, RWE is actively developing projects in several countries in Europe as well as in North America with a total capacity of more than 7.6 GW.