Iberdrola seeks EU funding for 1.6GW PV module assembly plant in Spain

Spanish utility Iberdrola has submitted a proposal to the European Commission (EC) Innovation Fund for a 1.6GW PV module assembly plant in Spain.

With an annual production capacity of nearly 3 million panels, a third of them will be able to meet Spain's current demand, with most going to the Extremadura region, a solar hotbed and market for photovoltaic projects in the country according to the report. The utility said its share in Spain was 25%.

Extremadura is an important region for the utility in Spain, with more than 2GW of operational solar PV across 12 projects.

The project will require European funding to ensure its competitiveness and will support the creation of up to 500 direct jobs.

Known worldwide for developing renewable energy projects, Iberdrola has been active at the upstream level of the solar industry, partnering with Spanish solar manufacturer Exiom to build a Tunneling Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) module assembly with an annual capacity of 500 MW The plant is located in the Asturias region of Langreo in northwestern Spain.

Iberdrola aims to include the project in one of the EC's renewable energy plans released in the past few weeks, the Net Zero Industry Act, which aims to scale up the manufacture of clean technologies and meet at least 40% of the EU's demand for clean technologies to be met by domestic production by 2030.