Iberdrola to build ?27 million photovoltaic solar plant in Italy

Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción has been awarded a contract to build a €27 million photovoltaic solar plant in Italy. This new renewable energies facility, being developed for Pugliasolar, will have installed capacity of 8 MW and annual estimated output of 12 GWh.

The construction of this facility in the region of Puglia, in the south east of Italy, is in line with the Iberdrola subsidiary’s strategy of pushing forward the international expansion of its business (over 80% of its project portfolio comes from outside Spain) and winning contracts to develop projects for non-group companies.

The photovoltaic plant, which is being financed by Unicredit Mediocredito Centrale, will have eight 1 MW modules which will come on stream in two phases: The first 6 MW will be completed before next summer, and the other two at the end of the summer. Iberdrola Ingeniería has had a subsidiary in Italy since January last year to spearhead its expansion in the country.

In Spain, this wholly-owned subsidiary of the Iberdrola Group has this month brought into operation a 1.7 MW photovoltaic plant in Chillarón (Cuenca), bringing the total number of facilities of this type that it has built to 43, with a combined capacity of 70 MW.

Iberdrola Ingeniería’s activities in the field of renewable energies also include the development of wind farm and solar thermal projects. It has built 131 wind farms since 2000, with a total capacity of 3,740 MW, making it the leading company in this field in Spain, Mexico and Poland. 20% of these facilities have been developed for non-Group customers. In the area of solar thermal energy, it has commissioned the 50 MW Puertollano Concentrating Solar Power plant for Iberdrola Renovables.

Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción is the leading Spanish engineering company in the electricity sector and the second-largest worldwide in turnover from foreign business. It is currently involved in projects in 30 countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East and has over 2,400 employees. It mainly operates in the nuclear, renewables, electricity networks and infrastructure, and generation sectors.

The company, which has become the technological centre of the Iberdrola Group, had a project pipeline worth over €2.5 billion at the end of 2009.

It recently received the Prince Felipe of Asturias Award for Business Excellence in the Industrial Quality and Innovation category, for the high standard of its quality and environmental management, and risk prevention and strategic planning systems, among other reasons.

Iberdrola is the largest wind energy development company in Spain. This is spread between its 175 wind farms (5,126 MW of wind power in total), 135 mini-hydro power stations (342 MW), the Puertollano (Ciudad Real) solar thermal plant (50 MW) and its first forest biomass plant in Corduente in Guadalajara province (2 MW).

www.iberdrola.es