The largest European PV project connected to the grid in Spain

Last week a photovoltaic project with 493.74MW peak generating capacity was connected to the grid in Spain: it is the largest European PV project at utility scale so far. The project covers approximately 1,000ha within the municipality of Mula in the province of Murcia, in the southern part of the country.

The construction and development of such an important project shows that the Spanish PV sector has entered in a new era of growth. As PV technology has reduced its costs by 95% over the last decade, reaching a high level of competitiveness, PV projects are now profitable also in a subsidy-free framework.

Moreover, the definition of a National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) that includes ambitious – but feasible – targets for 2030 sets the pace for a steady development of the Spanish PV sector. In the next ten years, a total of 29 GW of new PV capacity are expected to be installed and the NECP plans to achieve up to 42% consumption of renewable energies out of the total energy use by the year 2030.

Within this positive framework, and by the end of 2019, the Spanish PV Union (UNEF), the national association of the PV industry, the new PV capacity could exceed 4000 MW for utility-scale projects.