Solar energy seeks its place under Spanish sun

Sun-drenched Spain should be a natural for solar energy, and it is here that the technology is making an effort to stand on its feet financially without subsidies. Investors are betting again on solar power generation in Spain, which for a decade was in the shadows as the country cut subsidies for the clean source of energy. A plunge in the price of solar panels and lower construction costs has changed the maths. Iberdrola, Spain’s largest power company, this month launched a solar project with a capacity of 425 megawatts.

Last week Spanish renewable energy firm Cox Energy signed a deal for the construction of 495 megawatts of capacity in Spain, and another 165 megawatts in neighbouring Portugal, in a 400-millioneuro investment.

Companies have sought authorisation for solar power projects across Spain with a total capacity of 24,000 megawatts, according to the director general of Spanish solar power lobby UNEF, Jose Donoso.

Spain was one of the pioneers of solar power-generation. Subsidies in the form of a high purchase price for solar power lured investors and homeowners to install solar panels, triggering a boom in 2008 that saw Spain’s installed capacity jump five times to 3,355 megawatts.

But the global financial crisis, which ravaged Spain via a collapse of the property market, led to a bust in new projects and the cash-strapped government was forced to abandon the subsidies.

Just 49 megawatts was added in 2015, and 55 megawatts in 2016, before picking up to 135 megawatts in 2017, according to UNEF figures.

In Germany, which kept up its subsidies, solar power swelled by six times although the country does not receive as much sun as Spain.

The country now has more than 40,000 megawatts of solar power, compared with 5,400 in Spain at the end of 2015.

“The Spanish market will certainly be one of the biggest in Europe in the coming years,” said Donoso.

A group set up by the government proposes setting as a goal having a total of 30,000-60,000 gigawatts of installed solar capacity by 2020, he said. Spain’s conservative government has so far not made solar power a priority, said Ferrando. “We only use the sun for tourism not for electricity,” he said. Solar power represents just 3-4 per cent of electrical power production in Spain, compared with 20 per cent for wind power and 16-17 per cent for hydroelectric power.