Europe PV News Snippets: Lightsource, Columbus, Iberdrola

• Lightsource BP has raised €52 million to construct its 2x49.5 MW solar power projects in Spain
• Columbus Energy has withdrawn from takeover bid of Archeton and announced it will enter ready-made house design business by itself
• Iberdrola will build a 2.3 MW onsite solar power plant for Lactalis in Spain under a long term PPA

€52 million for Lightsource bp in Spain: Lightsource bp has achieved financial closure for 2 solar power plants in Spain, each with 49.5 MW capacity. Financing worth €52 million arranged from Natwest, Santander, Sabadell and Intesa Sanpaolo has cleared the way for the British company to undertake their construction in Calamocha and Cuevas de Almuden in Spain's Aragon region's Teruel province. Both projects are under contract with Lightsource bp's parent company bp's European power trading tram. Both the projects will be built using 200,000 bifacial solar panels mounted on single-axis trackers. These will be built by local EPC company Grupotec. With plans to invest €2 billion in the Spanish solar market by 2025, Lightsource bp has been quickly building its portfolio in the country. In June 2021, its Spanish solar project pipeline alone grew to over 3 GW after it acquires 703 MW capacity from Grupo Jorge subsidiary in Aragon (see Lightsource BP Laps Up 703 MW Solar Capacity In Spain).

Polish PV firm for ready-made houses: Poland based solar PV systems installer and energy supplier Columbus Energy will enter the business of ready-made house designs, after it decided to pull out of its takeover bid of Archeton. Calling an investment in Archeton 'burdened with considerable business risk', Columbus Energy said it will instead build the business from scratch. Columbus Energy entered into an agreement with Archeton in March 2021 to build a new quality of sale of ready-made house projects under a new joint venture. Back then, Columbus Energy's President Dawid Zieliński had said, "The joint business with the founder of one of the most recognizable brands in the sector of ready-made house designs is the opportunity to promote our products and services on a market where over 80,000 new homes are built annually."

Columbus Energy is a 20% stakeholder in local perovskite solar cell technology manufacturer Saule Technologies that recently opened its 1^st fab in Poland (see Perovskite Solar Cell Production Fab Online In Poland).

Solar power for French dairy producer in Spain: Iberdrola has secured a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with French dairy producer Lactalis to sell solar power from a 2.3 MW onsite solar installation on the latter's Spanish cheese production plant. Under the agreement, Iberdrola will build and operate the project in Villarrobledo (Albacete) in Castilla-La Mancha for Lactalis to use solar power to cover 25% of its energy requirement to produce cheese. At the Spanish fab, Lactalis produces its cheese brands as El Ventero, Gran Capitan and Don Bernardo. The PPA can be expanded to 25 years for the project that can come online in March 2022. Solar power from the project will allow Lactalis to consume 75% of electricity at the Albacete plant from renewable energy, comprising solar and wind.