The Spanish Elecnor Group has signed a project finance agreement for €275 million with a consortium of Spanish banks to fund the construction of a solar thermal electric plant in Badajoz in south western Spain. The funding will be used to build the Astexol-2 solar thermal electric plant, which will have a capacity of 50MW.
The plan is being developed by Dioxipe Solar: a company established by Elecnor; the engineering firm, Aries Ingeniería y Sistemas ; and the infrastructure investment fund, Eiser. The 50MW plant will use parabolic trough technology to generate enough clean energy to supply 37,000 homes per annum, avoiding the emission of 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. As well as these environmental benefits, the plant will also boost the local economy, creating 500 direct jobs during construction, and a further 50 jobs during the operating phase.
As reported by Renewable Energy Magazine at the end of last week, in Badajoz alone, nine new solar thermal electric plants (450 MW) have been pre-assigned the current feed-in tariff by the Spanish government, three are at an advanced stage of construction (150 MW), and two are in operation (100 MW).
For additional information:
__________________________________
