Europe Solar PV News Snippets

Lightsource bp bags partial funding for Greek project; Iberdrola & Norges expand Iberia partnership; RWE commissions 92 MW in Spain; EDPR's 25 MW capacity online in the Netherlands; Aiko and Wattkraft join hands; Hopewind, Energy Depot and New Energy Link partner ISC Konstanz. 

560 MW solar plant in Greece: Lightsource bp is developing a 560 MW solar power plant in Greece as one of the largest solar projects in Europe through Enipeas, its local subsidiary. It has now raised €315.34 million for this Enipeas project from Eurobank A.E. and the Greek Public State. The total investment this project is expected to incur is €395.15 million, with the developer covering €79.82 million investment with its own funds. The project is scheduled to achieve grid connection in 2026 to generate 0.90 TWh annually, covering almost 2% of the domestic production. Enipeas will develop the project in Larissa and Fthiotida regions and consist of 2 sub-areas of the 400 MW southern and the 160 MW northern cluster. The entire project will use 968,630 solar modules. Eurobank said the financing agreement is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0. 

Iberdrola to expand in Iberia: Spanish energy group Iberdrola and a fund managed by Norway's sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management have agreed to expand their renewable energy partnership in Spain. The duo has agreed to add an extra 644 MW of renewable energy, taking their Iberian clean energy alliance to around 2.5 GW. They started with 644 MW initially and have now added 328 MW of solar in Extremadura and 216 MW in Castilla y Leon. The duo says the alliance could be further expanded in the future to include additional renewable energy opportunities in more countries. Norges Bank is also one of Iberdrola's main shareholders. 

92 MW solar plant online in Spain: Germany's RWE has commissioned the 92 MW Gazules Solar Plant in Spain's Cádiz province of Andalusia. The project comprises 2 solar plants with 46 MW AC capacity each. Together, the projects have around 240,000 bifacial solar modules installed. It expands RWE's Iberian solar capacity to 300 MW and global solar capacity to 4.2 GW. Recently, RWE began construction of its 1st solar plant in Italy with an 8.3 MW AC capacity. Located in Partinico municipality near Palermo, Sicily, the Bosco project is targeted to be commissioned by 2024-end. 

EDPR commissions over 25 MW PV: EDP Renewables (EDPR) has commissioned 2 solar power plants in the Netherlands with a combined 25.6 MW DC/20.5 MW AC. Both facilities were developed through Kronos Solar EDPR. These will together generate 37 GWh annually. The company claims to have a renewable energy portfolio of more than 100 MW in the Netherlands. 

Aiko partners with Wattkraft: Back contact solar module producer Aiko has signed a supply agreement with Wattkraft to expand its European footprint. It will supply the distributor with its All Back Contact (ABC) modules for various application scenarios in the European distributed PV market. Aiko says this is aimed at establishing a mature and reliable supply system through extensive distribution channels. 

Tech partnership for Hopewind: Chinese solar technology company Hopewind, Energy Depot and New Energy Link have announced a partnership with the International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz (ISC Konstanz). New Energy Link's Wang Kaizhou said, "As the first distributor member of the ISC Association in France, NEL Energy Link will leverage ISC's ecological advantages and utilize the EDT Express supply chain platform, featuring a warehouse spanning 50,000 square meters, to create a leading one-stop service solution for industrial and commercial enterprises in collaboration with Hopewind." On the occasion, Energy Depot and Hopewind also signed a distribution agreement for the commercial and industrial sectors.