Soltec to build solar tracker factory at demolished power plant site in Spain

Spanish solar energy specialist Soltec Power Holdings SA (BME:SOL) said on Monday that it has signed an agreement with renewables firm Enel Green Power Espana to build a solar trackers factory in the region of Aragon, northeastern Spain, in an area where Enel Green Power’s parent company used to operate a now demolished coal-fired power plant.

The agreement is part of a wider EUR-1.5-billion (USD 1.57bn) socio-economic plan that Spanish utility Endesa SA (BME:ELE) designed to transform the land where the Andorra power plant once stood and create employment for local communities either through own renewable energy projects or partnerships with other companies.

Soltec said that it will set up the factory in warehouses and facilities of the former power plant and create around 40 permanent jobs in the area. Trackers from the factory could later be used in solar projects that Endesa, through Enel Green Power, will build on cleared land at the Andorra site, according to Soltec announcement.

When Endesa shut down the Andorra power plant in 2020, it freed up over 1,000 MW of capacity, which the Spanish government put to tender to attract socially conscious renewable energy development in the area.

In October 2022, Endesa won the tender, securing a provisional award for 953 MW of renewables and the option to hook up to 1,200 MW at Andorra’s old grid point.

The utility last week presented its industrial and socio-economic plan for Andorra and its neighbourhood, saying that it will use the site to install over 1,800 MW of renewable energy capacity. The plan includes construction of seven wind and seven solar farms operating as hybrids, two battery energy storage systems, one green hydrogen electrolyser, one synchronous condenser and one electrolyser factory.

Endesa expects its plan to help create over 6,300 jobs and 370 permanent positions during the operational stage of the new energy plants.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.044)

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