Iberdrola has commissioned its first solar farm in Portugal, Spain, one of several projects it was awarded in solar auctions in 2019, totalling 187MW.
The 12.72MW Alcochete 2 PV plant, involving €17.8m in investment, has more than 50,500 fixed single-facial photovoltaic modules.
The project generated more than 200 jobs during peak construction periods, all of which were filled by local workers.
Iberdrola was the largest winning bidder in lot numbers from the 2019 auction in Portugal.
Alcochete 2 is one of three from the auction expected to enter commercial operation during this year.
The two others are the 13.51MW Conde project and the 32.89MW Alcochete 1 project.
All three are located in the Setúbal district.
In addition, the Montechoro 1 (11.57MW), Montechoro 2 (24.95MW) and Carregado (64.1MW) projects, awarded in the same auction, are in the process of obtaining construction permits and are scheduled to be commissioned in 2023, at which time Iberdrola's PV capacity in Portugal will total 187 MW.
In Portugal, Iberdrola serves a large commercial portfolio of customers, and has 92MW of wind power in operation.
It has also commissioned the Daivões (conventional plant) and Gouvães (pumped-storage plant) hydroelectric plants, which are part of the Támega River gigabattery, one of the largest energy storage facilities in Europe with 1158MW of capacity.
In addition, the future construction of a large wind farm with planned total capacity of 400MW, linked to the gigabattery, will convert the complex into a hybrid generation plant.
