Repsol, the Spanish oil and gas producer, has announced the completion of the group's largest solar power plant with 637 MW installed capacity. The project is located in Swisher County, Texas in the US.
Repsol's local presence Repsol Renewables North America says the project's 570 MW capacity is currently in operation. The company itself will offtake 89% of the output from the project under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). It says this is part of its strategy to lock in returns for this type of asset.
The 637 MW Frye Solar Plant is equipped with almost 1 million solar panels. It counts the group's total renewable installed and under development capacity in Texas as 2.091 GW. This comprises facilities at Frye (637 MW), Outpost (629 MW), and Pinnington (825 MW).
It is operating 2 solar power plants with 145 MW combined capacity in New Mexico.
The US forms a big part of the Spanish group's target to achieve net zero by 2050 with the help of 20 GW renewable energy capacity (see 20 GW Renewable Energy Capacity By 2030).
It aims to invest €3 billion to €4 billon to organically develop its project portfolio and reach between 9 GW and 10 GW of installed capacity by 2027. The US market will make up 30% of this target with 3 GW to 4 GW of installed renewable energy capacity, after consolidating the Hecate and ConnectGen project pipeline.
Repsol entered the US renewable energy market in 2021 after acquiring a 40% stake in Hecate Energy, which had over 40 GW of renewable energy capacity in its portfolio at that time (see North America PV Snippets: NIPSCO, Hecate Energy, UL).