Spanish energy giant Iberdrola has revealed plans to set up a solar PV panel manufacturing project in Spain's Extremadura region with 1.6 GW capacity, for which it is seeking funding from the European Commission's (EC) Innovation Fund.
Iberdrola says a significant part of panels rolled out of the 1.6 GW fab will be installed in Extremadura itself and lead to the creation of 500 direct jobs. However, the management does not share any more details in terms of the technology to be used or the expected timeline.
It follows the company's announcement to invest in an industrial scale solar panel manufacturing plant of undisclosed annual capacity in Asturias region of Spain with Exiom (see Iberdrola Joins Hands With Exiom For Solar Manufacturing In EU).
The company has over 20 renewable energy facilities in Extremadura with an installed capacity of more than 4 GW, including 2 GW solar power plants. Another 2 GW comes from 8 hydroelectric power plants it operates in the state. It plans to continue investing in this region with an investment of over €1.7 billion between 2020 and 2025.
Under its 2025 Strategic Plan, Iberdrola will invest €17 billion to increase its installed renewable energy capacity from 12.1 GW now to 52 GW comprising 6.3 GW PV, 3.1 GW onshore wind, 1.8 GW offshore wind, 700 MW batteries and 200 MW hydro.
Capable of producing around 3 million panels annually, which Iberdrola says will be enough to cover 1/3rd of Spain's current demand, the 1.6 GW manufacturing plant is seeking funding under the 3rd call of the Innovation Fund. A total of 239 applications were received by the EC for the 3rd call launched in November 2022 to seek €3 billion for large scale projects (see €3 Billion For Innovative Clean Tech Projects In EU).
Iberdrola said, "This initiative will require European funding to ensure its competitiveness. It could be framed within the 'Net Zero Industry Act', the package of measures recently announced by the European Commission to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of emission-free manufacturing technologies in Europe, as well as to ensure a more secure and sustainable energy system."
EU's Innovation Fund is already supporting Enel Green Power's 3 GW heterojunction (HJT) cell and module fab in Italy selected under its 1st call (see 3 GW Bifacial HJT Modules Fab In Europe).
Under the 2nd call, REC Group's 2 GW HJT French module manufacturing project was selected (see REC Group's French Plans Win EU Funding).