Spanish developer Solarpack has signed a power purchase agreement with Shell Energy Europe for output from its 54MW solar project in Murcia. Bilbao-based Solarpack will supply Shell with 105 gigawatt hours a year of clean energy for 10 years starting in June 2024, from the plant. The project is being financed with €38m from BBVA. “This operation further reinforces our presence in Spain, one of the biggest solar energy markets in Europe, and is in line with our strategic plan to achieve 5GW of installed capacity by 2026,” said Solarpack sales director Iván Nieto.                Corporate and business director for BBVA in Spain Fernando Alonso added: “BBVA’s support for the Solarpack project forms part of our commitment to sustainability and our special support for sectors linked to renewable energy. “Our objective is to accompany our clients and society in the process of transitioning towards production models that are more respectful of the environment.” Vice president for Shell Energy Europe Tom Summers said: “We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Solarpack on a project which will assist Europe’s transition to a lower-carbon energy system. Shell Energy Europe’s focus on delivering renewable power solutions for customers enables the development and access to the market for more renewable energy projects.” The deal will extend Solarpack’s capacity to a total of 14,156MW worldwide.             Credits: renews.biz [Image: Unplash/Antonio Garcia]

                 Ampyr Solar Europe has acquired a 390MW UK solar-storage portfolio from Tyler Hill. The five projects are grid secured and in the process of being submitted for planning approval. Ampyr Solar Europe will develop the assets in partnership with Tyler Hill through to “ready-to-build” status and will begin construction in 2024. In parallel, Ampyr Solar Europe’s in-house power purchase agreement (PPA) team will source long-term power offtakers for the renewable power produced by these projects.                The projects are located in Somerset, Worcestershire and County Durham, in addition to a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project in Moray, Scotland.Ampyr Solar Europe’s commercial lead on the deal Matthew van Staden said: “We are thrilled to be working with Tyler Hill on this transaction. “We are confident that our partnership will deliver high-quality, cost-effective solar projects that are delivered in a timely manner. “This will be especially important to PPA offtakers who need price and delivery certainty to meet their sustainability goals. “The Commercial Team at ASE is in a number of PPA discussions with UK offtakers and will be expanding discussions with additional counterparties in relation to these new projects now added to the portfolio.” Founder and chairman of Tyler Hill Ravishankar Tumuluri added: “With a constructive engagement with the local communities, the Ampyr-Tyler Hill partnership will deliver projects that contribute to UK’s net zero goals, while supporting local community development schemes.” Law firm Burges Salmon provided legal assistance to Ampyr Solar Europe on the deal. Following this acquisition the company will have a development pipeline of over 1.8GW in the UK.             Credits: renews.biz [Image: Unplash/Sungrow]  

                 Scatec has reached financial close for its three Grootfontein solar projects in South Africa, totalling 273MW. The projects were awarded following the Department of Mineral Resources’ fifth bidding round of its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) in 2021. The solar plants will be the first Scatec assets located in the country’s Western Cape province. Once operational the projects will deliver renewable energy under a 20-year PPA. These are the first REIPPPP solar developments in the fifth bidding round to reach financial close.                Scatec will own 51% of the equity in the projects, with H1 Holdings, Scatec’s local Black Economic Empowerment partner owning 46.5% and the Grootfontein Local Community Trust 2.5%. Scatec will be the EPC provider and provide O&M as well as asset management services to the power plants. Construction start is expected during the first quarter of 2024. “South Africa is a focus market and this value accretive investment with project returns above our return hurdle, is in line with our strategy to grow profitably and build scale in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Scatec chief executive Terje Pilskog. “We are now looking forward to starting construction next year and achieving commercial operation in 2025, while powering approximately 100,000 households in the region,” he added. The power plants have an estimated total project cost of $270m of which Scatec’s EPC contracts account for approximately 75%. The project will be financed by equity from the owners and $241m of non-recourse project finance debt provided by Standard Bank of South Africa as mandated lead arranger.           Credits: renews.biz [Image: Scatec] [Image: Scatec]

                  DNV has supported a solar and storage project in the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific. Philippines-based power producer Solar Pacific Energy Corporation (SPEC), the solar developer of listed Alternergy Holdings Corporation, appointed DNV as owner’s engineer for the 15.3MW solar power and associated 13.2MWh battery on Babeldoab island in the archipelago. The $29m project, jointly owned by SPEC and its listed parent Alternergy, will meet more than 20% of Palau’s energy needs. SPEC was awarded a long-term power supply agreement by the Palau Public Utilities Corporation to feed power to the central grid in Badelboab.                DNV’s work scope for the solar-storage system spanned four phases across the design, pre-construction, construction, and project completion stages. The company assessed if the design would meet two main purposes: grid smoothing and energy generation. It advised on project scheduling and progress tracking, and checked the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on SPEC’s behalf. “Solar Pacific is grateful to DNV for its excellent technical and project management support throughout the pre-construction and implementation stages of this exciting project,” said SPEC chief executive officer Mike Lichtenfeld. “DNV provided valuable expertise to ensure the delivery of a rather complex project that involved a PV and battery storage hybrid solution on a challenging project site located in a remote location. “We look forward to expanding our working relationship with DNV throughout the Asia Pacific region.” DNV project manager at energy systems Michael Niu added: “With a project in a location as unique as the Republic of Palau, the jurisdiction itself is challenging as the project engineering codes and local requirements are very specific.  “As such, it was critical that a multi-disciplinary engineering team well-versed in international codes, standards and best practices was assembled.”           Credits: renews.biz [Image: DNV] 

                 Nordic developer Ilmatar has secured land for a proposed 350MW solar farm in Grums, in central Sweden. Ilmatar has signed a 50-year lease agreement with landowners in the Värmland municipality for the solar farm to be built on 300 hectares to 400 hectares of leased land. When operational, the plant will be one of the largest in Sweden.                The farm will be primarily built in commercial timber forest severely damaged by bark beetles and therefore unsuitable for timber use. “We are strongly committed to expanding renewable energy production in Sweden and look forward to finishing construction and connecting the farm to the main grid as soon as all permits are in place,” said Ilmatar Solar chief executive Christian Gustafsson. “The Grums farm is a long-awaited boost for energy production and is of special local importance.” Landowner of the area Anders Bergenheim added: “We are really excited about this collaboration with Ilmatar and the fact that we can contribute to the green transition in a very concrete way. “We really appreciate Ilmatar’s approach that combines solar energy production with farmland.”             Credits: renews.biz [Image: llmatar]

                    Equinor’s second Polish solar plant has started test production in the north of the country. The 60MW Zagórzyca solar plant, located in the Damnica municipality, was developed and will be operated by the Polish renewable power producer Wento, Equinor’s 100% subsidiary. Equinor acquired Wento and its 1.6GW pipeline of solar projects in 2021. Two years after the acquisition, two solar plants in Poland are ready and another one is under construction.                  “Equinor aims to be a reliable energy partner for Poland and support its energy transition. We are building a broad energy offering in the country, including onshore and offshore renewables, and gas supplies through the Baltic Pipe,” said Equinor’s country manager in Poland Michał Jerzy Kołodziejczyk. Senior vice president for onshore and markets within renewables at Equinor Olav Kolbeinstveit added: “Today we inaugurate our second solar plant Zagórzyca, doubling our solar capacity in Poland to around 120MW. “Our first solar plant Stępień is already in commercial production, and another one, Lipno, will be commissioned in 2024. “We are also maturing other opportunities within onshore renewables and battery storage in Poland, in line with our market-driven power producer strategy.” Equinor’s wholly owned energy trading house Danske Commodities will be responsible for marketing and bringing the electricity from Zagórzyca to the Polish power market. Around 500 people were involved in the construction of Zagórzyca that comprises 111,000 solar panels over an area of around 55 hectares.             Credits: renews.biz [Image: Equinor]

  Enel X has been awarded a tender by Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) to build a 22MW solar plant that will meet the airport’s self-consumption requirements.   The company, part of Enel Group, will deliver the solar plant in collaboration with infrastructure company Circet. Located parallel to runway No.3 at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport, the facility will cover a 340,000 square metre area. Work is scheduled to start by the end of 2023 and will be completed in 2024. The new solar energy plant will be complemented with a storage system based on second life electric vehicle batteries. The 10MWh storage system is the result of the Pioneer (airPort sustaInability secONd lifE battEry stoRage) project, which is the first stage of the collaboration between Enel X and ADR, and will help cover any possible energy demand peak at the airport in the evenings. “The construction of this new photovoltaic system, which will be the largest in Europe, is a significant step in the now well-established collaboration with Aeroporti di Roma,” said Enel X chief executive Francesco Venturini. ADR chief executive Marco Troncone added: “Working with Enel X will make it possible for the largest self-consumption photovoltaic system ever installed at a European airport. “We believe that Italy’s top companies can and must work together in order to transform and relaunch this sector, which is of strategic importance for our country, and to help mitigate climate change.” ADR is targeting zero CO2 emissions by 2030, ahead of the targets set for the European airport sector.            Credits: renews.biz [Image: Enel]

                 Statkraft has been awarded the contract for a solar-battery project in Zerbst in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt region. The 47MW solar park will be co-located with a 16MW battery to provide short-term flexibility to the energy system. Statkraft won the project as part of the Federal Network Agency’s innovation tender.                The federal authority had tendered a total of 400MW of output for the innovation tender in May 2023. Statkraft’s project is on the site of a former gravel pit. “The construction of co-location facilities using solar energy and battery storage is part of our ambitious growth targets in Germany,” said Claus Urbanke, Head of German wind, solar and storage development at Statkraft. Statkraft has already started the tendering process for selected plant components ahead of operation in mid-2025.           Credits: renews.biz [Image: Statkraft]

                 Medical products and technologies company Convatec has proposed creating a wind and solar powered renewable energy hub to power its South Wales manufacturing operation. The project is being developed in partnership with local farmers and would be situated adjacent to Convatec’s manufacturing site in Rhymney, South Wales. The project will feature three wind turbines and around 10 hectares of solar panels, providing a generating capacity of about 20MW. As well as generating enough clean energy to meet the requirements of the Rhymney facility, the project, known as Convatec Green Manufacturing Hub, will also provide enough energy to power its Deeside operation.                Convatec also anticipates a surplus of energy being produced by the project and will commit to working with the community to identify local energy supply options for other businesses and community organisations. Since the project is expected to have an installed capacity of greater than 10MW, it will be considered a Development of National Significance (DNS) by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), with the final decision being made by Welsh Ministers. Convatec have organised two early engagement community events in Rhymney for the public to learn more about their emerging proposals. These will take place on Wednesday 28 June between 4-8pm at St David’s Community Centre and Thursday 29 June between 10am-2pm at Ael-y-Bryn Sports & Community Centre. Commenting on the proposals, Marion Davies, Rhymney Plant Director, said: “Transitioning our operations to clean, green locally produced energy will make us more resilient, ensuring we can continue to produce world leading products here in Rhymney, that positively touch the lives of people with chronic illness on a daily basis, over the long-term. “We are dedicated to supporting our local community and look forward to engaging with neighbours, stakeholders and local businesses to help shape the plans and identify opportunities for collaboration and positive community focused outcomes.”           Credits: renews.biz [Image: MorgueFile]

                 Accelerating solar-plus-storage in the next five years will boost the efficiency and resilience of global energy networks, according to 92% of energy industry professionals. The finding is from DNV’s Industry Insights research, which surveyed global energy industry professionals on their outlook, expectations and priorities for the year ahead. DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook forecasts that solar will grow 20-fold globally by 2050 and installations are increasingly being planned with dedicated storage. Within a decade, about one fifth of all PV installed will be with dedicated storage, and by mid-century, this share will have risen to half. “Global emissions are continuing to rise; the good news is that we have the technologies to prevent further increase of emissions. “Combining solar and storage also opens a wide range of possibilities to provide 100% renewable energy for society in a reliable and cost-efficient way. “It’s important that we act fast for the collective good, remove barriers for clean energy and plan for long term progress,” said Ditlev Engel, CEO, Energy Systems at DNV.                     The forecast also shows that despite its current higher costs, solar-plus-storage has an advantage over solar PV on capture price. Plants with storage can charge batteries when sunlight is plentiful during the day and sell the stored electricity when the price is high. By 2038, the capture price advantage of solar-plus-storage over regular solar PV plants will surpass the cost disadvantage on a globally averaged basis. Of those surveyed for Industry Insights, respondents working in the solar industry see investment in storage as a priority, with two thirds revealing they already have revenue-producing business interests in the sector and 56% expecting to increase their investment in the year ahead. Skills shortages and lack of policy support could stand in the way of progress, with both solar and storage industry respondents citing these as the biggest barriers to growth. Around 63% of respondents from the solar industry stated that not enough people are entering the workforce in the sector, while 62% revealed that their own organisation is finding it increasingly difficult to attract employees with the skills required for the energy transition. Regarding policy support, 47% said that inadequacy, delays or surprises in public policy represents the biggest risk to their organisation’s near-term success. A further 87% of solar industry respondents stated that reforms to permitting and licencing processes are critical to meeting net zero targets. DNV’s Industry Insights research was conducted in January and May 2023 and includes over 1500 respondents from Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific.           Credits: renews.biz [Image: DNV]