Solaria, a Madrid-based developer of solar PV (photovoltaic) energy, says a green balance has been achieved. The company has over 185MW of 100% renewable power projects worldwide, intending to reach 3,325MW by the end of 2023. Furthermore, the country where it is headquartered (Spain) has 56% of Europe’s subsidy-free solar PV pipeline.
Solaria plans to install 3,325 megawatts of capacity in such a short time with no support from public funding. Instead, it will take advantage of a massive boom in the country’s solar market to make it all happen.
Chief Operating Officer Dario Lopez said in an interview:
Solaria Energia y Medio Ambiente SA’s projects are completely subsidy-free and can compete in the market with other technologies. Nowadays, there are lenders that are assuming the price volatility linked to the merchant risk. These kind of projects are already a reality, we’ve reached the green parity.
The company was indeed awarded 250 megawatts in a renewable public auction back in 2017. However, this will only be used as compensation if the market price of electricity falls below 32 euros ($36) a megawatt-hour. Lopez describes it as a “destructive” price scenario and says, only under such circumstances would it trigger that mechanism. Therefore, “it’s like having no subsidy,” he said.
A decade ago, Spain became one of the globes most attractive solar markets. This is thanks to generous incentives that lured developers and boosted the industry. When the government decided to cut subsidies because they were draining the country’s finances, the boom slowed down. Fortunately, a decrease in price recently facilitated in the regrowth of the solar market, and this time, without public support.
The market is doing so well that shares in Solaria rose about 115% over the past year. Overall, the country has a pipeline of 7,000 megawatts of subsidy-free PV solar farms in the works, including Solaria’s. According to a report by BloombergNEF, it is the most in all of Europe! Spain also has 61% of the subsidy-free power-purchase agreements.
Meanwhile, the trade war between the U.S. and China looming only further helped the plunge in the cost of developing solar farms in Spain. Lopez said:
It’s favoring us. Chinese panel manufacturers are getting bigger and bigger and cannot stop producing, so they have to reduce prices to sustain sale volumes when exports to certain countries are more difficult. The fall of yuan is also beneficial. Prices of certain components have dropped as much as 10%. Spain is an exceptional market, and a unique opportunity in the world.
Solaria even has plans to further expand in other countries. Lopez continued:
Once we’ve all our 3.3 gigawatts installed, we should have an impact on the share price. We’ll focus on other markets where we already have certain experience, mainly in Latin America.
Two of the main countries the developer aims to keep growing in are Portugal and Italy.
