Spain's Balearic Islands will see 38 new solar PV projects coming up under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) co-financed SOLBAL 2 round where SOL stands for Solar and BAL for Balearic Islands. This round initially received interest from 44 projects representing 168 MW capacity.
Under the 2nd call, the government's Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) will allocate €18.77 million to aid the development of new solar PV installations representing capacity worth 142 MW. It expects the projects to mobilize an investment of approximately €108 million.
Projects are scheduled to be commissioned before December 31, 2022. Out of 38 winning projects, 28 with an aid volume value of €14.6 million will be located on the island of Mallorca representing 111.5 MW. The island of Menorca will host 6 projects with 30.2 MW capacity and an estimated value of €4 million. The remaining 4 installations will be located on the island of Ibiza accounting for a total of 500 kW to come up for €80,000 altogether.
Further the IDAE shared a total of 11 installations will either come up on the rooftops or on carparks, etc., and rest will be ground mounted. Small projects are prioritized in this round since 81% of the awarded projects have up to 5 MW capacity, and 26% of them have less than 1 MW of power. This makes these projects 'more adapted to the territorial reality' of the islands and have 'less impact on the territory'.
The 326 MW PV capacity awarded under SOLBAL 1 round, back in 2019, in the form of 55 projects is either under construction or partially in service, according to the IDAE (see 55 Solar Projects Approved For Balearic Islands).
Through SOLBAL and SOLCAN, the Spanish government aims to promote clean energy in island territories under the country's National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). For the SOLCAL or Solar for Canary Islands program, IDAE awarded 255 MW capacity in March 2021 (see Canary Islands To Host 255 MW Solar PV Capacity).