Statkraft is to invest €200m to construct four new solar plants in southern Spain totalling 234MW.
The projects are co-located within an eight-kilometre radius of each other in the Cadiz region.
Statkraft has a large solar pipeline in Spain, helping the country meet its ambitious electrification and climate targets, including the development of 3GW of solar power per year until 2030 set out in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).
Statkraft will be the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the the projects and is also expected to carry out operations and maintenance (O&M) and asset management services for an initial term of 10 years.
In December 2020, Statkraft (then operating under Solarcentury) gained construction permits for three of the four planned solar farms, Malabrigo, El Yarte and Arenosas.
The fourth, La Guita, has environmental permits and is in the process of receiving a final construction permit decision due July 2021.
A local employment agreement has been entered into with the San Jose del Valle town council in association with three of these plants.
This agreement includes the development of a training and employment promotion plan and will see 500 employment opportunities created during the peak of the construction phase.
Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal, executive vice president European wind and solar at Statkraft, said: “I’m happy that we’ve committed to investing in the entire construction of these four new solar plants in Cadiz.
“Our recent acquisition of Solarcentury in November 2020 further positioned Spain as a major market for Statkraft’s solar footprint going forward and the company’s overall strategy is to develop 8GW of solar and wind power by 2025.
“Solar projects in Spain, like these four farms in Cadiz, will play an important role in Statkraft’s efforts to achieve this.”