Two new photovoltaic plants in Cuenca to feed 100MW of renewable energy into the grid

Iberdrola has started the commissioning phase of two new renewable energy facilities in Spain, the 50 MW Olmedilla and Romeral photovoltaic plants. Located in the province of Cuenca, they bring the company's total solar power output in the country to nearly 1,400 MW.

This phase begins with the energisation of the substation, i.e., it starts to be energised after having been connected to the grid before all tests prior to the commercial operation of the plant are carried out.

The installation is designed to maximise energy from the sun

The plants have more than 280,000 modules installed on a fixed structure in the case of Romeral and on a structure with solar trackers at the Olmedilla plant. The tracker system allows the movement of the modules following the path of the sun to maximise energy collection.

The trackers that have been installed are of the "two-row" type, i.e., they have a main row containing the drive motor and a second row connected to the first row via a connecting rod. In this case, the trackers also include two peculiarities: on the one hand, the motors are powered from a battery connected to a solar panel, and on the other, they have an integrated wireless system that allows them to communicate with the plant control. 

Overall, 320 jobs have been created during construction, during peak periods, and a large part of the components are of national origin. When they come into operation, they will be able to generate clean energy to supply more than 53,000 families and thus avoid the emission of 33,000 tonnes of CO2/year into the atmosphere.

The facility will deliver the power generated at the 400 kV Olmedilla substation, owned by Red Eléctrica de España (REE), the country's electricity system operator.

Iberdrola is currently building another 1,000 MW of renewable energy in Spain and has environmental authorisations for the construction of another 500 MW in various wind and photovoltaic projects in Castilla y León, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Murcia.